


The Dragons Child

by Ninnifu



Category: Fate: The Winx Saga (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Romance, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-14 10:09:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 22
Words: 43,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29540781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ninnifu/pseuds/Ninnifu
Summary: It's basically what my crazy mind thought through as a possible storyline for the moment after the girls arrive back at Alfea. A little bit of rescuing dead people, and trying to get the school back in good hands. With a few throwbacks into the past of our three former heads of school. A little bit of psychotic Rosalind (I mean, she just killed Farah O.O. I just had to write her like a part-time-psycho)...I'm not sure where this will be going, because of the fact, that it is actually quite far written down in the abyss of my mobile, but I'm not quite sure if I want to go the road my head is giving me.
Relationships: Beatrix/Riven (Winx Club), Bloom/Sky (Winx Club), Farah Dowling/Saul Silva, Sam Harvey/Musa
Comments: 124
Kudos: 256





	1. Back at Alfea

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there,  
> this is what happens after I binge-watch the series... I'm in love with the Farah/Saul pairing (that will be obvious later on in the story I think...).  
> Hope you like it, and please don't kill me for errors, english is not my mothertounge and I've written this stuff in my motherlanguage and tried to translate it. (That's the reason I will need my time to upload the already written Chapters.)
> 
> Nevertheless have fun😊.

Musa sighed softly and looked around for her headphones.  
"Instead of disengaging yourself, you could help us." Terra muttered, slightly annoyed, and looked at Musa.

"I can't really think. I've been hearing too many bad emotions around me since that old hag kept us locked up."

Terra looked pityingly at Musa. "Oh. I guess I forgot that."

Bloom shook her head in disbelief.  
"They can't keep us here forever. And who was the guy who was with your mother and Rosalind, Stella?"

Stella shrugged her shoulders and put on a cool face.  
"Believe me, Bloom, if Mother tries to do it, we'll be stuck in here for years."

Aisha looked worried out the window.  
"Anyone noticed where Miss Dowling went?"

The others looked at Aisha thoughtfully.  
"Maybe locked away too? I mean Silva was arrested. Apparently he tried to kill the guy Bloom mentioned. Sam said that the guy was Sky's father." Terra answered and let herself fall on the sofa next to Bloom.

Musa looked thoughtfully at Terra.  
"I don't think so. Silva could more or less be legally locked up with a reason. But Miss Dowling didn't do anything illegal."

Aisha nodded. "Yes, so far they have obeyed the law. Probably to put the whole thing into perspective. However, according to Bloom's description, I trust Rosalind to do everything."

Musa sighed in annoyance.  
"Stella. Stop feeling guilty. With or without your mother, Rosalind would have got through with her plan anyway!"

Stella looked angrily at Musa.  
"Get out of my head!"

Musa groaned in annoyance. "There you have it, Terra. I didn't listen to your inside, you are shouting your worries across the room on an emotional basis. I disconnect. If you have a plan, get in touch. I have a headache." She put on her headphones and left the common room and sat on her bed.  
Was Rosalind aware of the punishment it was for mind fairies to lock her in the room with her roommates? They had tried all the spells they knew to break open the door, but were unsuccessful.  
Musa closed her eyes and let herself fall into the world of her music until she was suddenly touched on the shoulder. Startled, she looked in the direction of the presence and saw Sam. With a bright smile she took off the headphones.

"So ... how are you?" Sam asked and dropped onto the bed next to her.

"You can wander around despite the spell?! Maybe you can break the spell from the outside? Well, my head is bursting. Apart from the fact that the girls go crazy, I constantly feel the fear and worry of everyone else in the background. I don't blame them I feel that way myself. But I am struggling with my own feelings and have to deal with those of others. "

Sam looked calmly into Musa's eyes. Then a smile crept onto his face.  
"That's what I feared. I have a surprise for you." Musa looked at Sam in surprise.  
Lovingly and carefully, Sam took Musa's hand and pulled her onto her legs.  
He grinned cheekily and placed her in front of a wall.  
"You have to trust me. So much so that you give your life and your presence into my hands." He explained calmly.  
"Close your eyes" he took Musa's hands in his "and follow me."

Musa briefly felt a cold around her and heard a loud pulsation of her heart, then the cold left her again and everything was calm. Quieter than before. No thoughts from Stella, Bloom or the others. Musa opened her eyes carefully and saw Sam grinning at her overjoyed and proud.  
They were outside the suite in the hallway.

"How-" began Musa. But Sam covered her mouth and shook his head. Then he took her by the hand and pulled her through the corridors of Alfea.

Then they reached the abandoned kitchen and went through a secret door. After a short walk through a corridor, they reached the cemetery.

"We have to be careful. So far Rosalind knows nothing of my strength and therefore cannot block it. We should be safe out here for the time being. But maybe you could keep an ear open? You notice someone faster than me. I have already tried to break the magic sealnat the door. In vain. "Sam explained and looked at Musa lovingly.

Musa nodded.  
"Thank you. Wow. I've never enjoyed silence so much." She mumbled softly and closed her eyes with relish.

"You have to do something... You are the only one who can move freely from us..." Musa muttered excitedly.

Sam nodded briefly.  
"I do. Dad and I were visited by Rosalind ... she put Dad under pressure with Terra and me. I'm trying to distribute necessary information for Dad. That's why I got you."

Musa nodded again.  
"So what happened after that? We were only greeted by Stella's mother, Rosalind and a guy who magically knocked us out and locked us in our rooms."

Sam sighed softly.  
"Unfortunately, Dad and I don't know that either. The guy is Sky's father. Sky is somehow on Rosalind's side. Well, Silva is imprisoned. I can't really reach the specialists. Riven, Sky and Beatrix cover everything there. No chance of taking someone away unnoticed. Unfortunately, my strength is not yet mature enough to be able to simply take someone away. The person has to trust me unconditionally. We couldn't do more in training beforehand. "

Musa looked at Sam in surprise.  
"Training? We?"

Sam nodded sadly.  
"Miss Dowling caught me. She said that if I could use the power, so easily I would have to expand it instead of living with it. Well, before we could go on, everything went downhill here."

This brought Musa Aisha's worry back to mind.  
"Where is she?"

Sam shrugged.  
"Rosalind claims that after Stella's mother replaced her with Rosalind, she wandered into the mountains to take a break."  
Musa looked thoughtfully at Sam as he continued.  
"Dad says that is a lie. Miss Dowling would only hand over the place to Rosalind without a fight over her corpse and protect us with all her might. She doesn't even take a medical certificate, so holiday is really unlikely."

Musa nodded.  
"I also have my doubts about this story. We suspected that they locked her away, just like Silva."

Sam shook his head.  
"As much as I want this idea to be true, Dad and I doubt that it is. You would attract attention with it. Lock up an innocent fairy?"

"Yes, we already had this line of thought." She dropped onto the bench, exhausted. Tears gathered in her eyes.

"Hey, she's clever and a powerful fairy. Whatever Rosalind did, she will surely have fended off." Sam sat down next to Musa and took her in his arms.  
Musa looked dazed at the flowers, which had evidently grown new.

"I hope so."  
Sam smiled at her.

"There are hardly any fairies that are more mind-strong than mental fairies." He put his forehead to hers and closed his eyes.  
Musa smiled slightly and gave him a loving kiss.

"We have to do something." She mumbled softly and looked lost in thought into the void.

"At the moment Dad's hands are tied. He's under constant surveillance. I can only visit fairies, and I'm also very restricted. I've been observing your suite since this afternoon and only had that one chance, to slip in between the guards without being noticed, I've taken. "

Musa suddenly heard a faint, painful groan and looked around, startled.  
Sam looked at her confused and noticed the brief purple glow in Musa's eyes.  
"I-is someone coming?" He whispered excitedly and looked at her and then around.

"Wait. Didn't you hear that?" Musa asked completely perplexed and looked at Sam. He shook his head unsuspectingly.

"What should I have heard?"

Musa took a shaky breath in and out.  
"The pained moan?"

Sam looked at her worried.  
"I didn't hear anyone groan. Your eyes lit up, that must have been a feeling that you noticed."


	2. White Flowers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go. Number two. I probably will also upload number three today. Have fun :)

Musa focused again on the noises and heard another blood-curdling moan. No not heard. She felt it.  
She opened her still glowing purple eyes and looked at Sam startled.

"Someone around here is in a lot of pain." She mumbled softly.

Sam's eyes widened.

"At school or where exactly? And who?"

Musa sighed softly and frowned.

"Aaah it's hard to focus on that." She opened her eyes again "I don't know." She added while her eyes went back to normal again.

Sam looked at her thoughtfully.

"It is like perceiving the feelings as if I were insulated by a kind of woolen blanket or a veil and as if they were not in English. I know that sounds strange, but I don't know how to explain it better."

Sam smiled encouragingly at her.  
"It's okay. Would you like to try again? Should we get someone?"

Musa looked at Sam worried.  
"I guess I wouldn't get out more than what I already felt. I'm just weak."

She heard a low, incredulous laugh. Then she felt Sam lift her chin and look at her in love.  
"I don't know anyone I would trust more. And remember what Miss Dowling always says: keep trying and learn from your mistakes."

Musa looked at him with a mixture of restlessness and love. She looked uncertainly away from Sam to the flowers that were sprouting at her feet.  
Suddenly it dawned on her. Ms. Dowling...

"Tell me, Sam, how many burned did Bloom kill?"

Sam looked at Musa, confused.  
"I uh- I think Dad said something about 6. But I have to admit, I was distracted when he talked about it." He grimaced with humor and pointed to the spot on his sweater under which the burned one's wounds were still healing.

"Although I'm pretty sure it was 6. Dad was pretty excited that Bloom knocked out 6 of these monsters on her own. He was about to investigate these things in human form, but Miss Dowling forbidded to take them apart on the grounds, because they were human. "

Musa nodded thoughtfully and felt concern rising.  
"She buried them right?"

Sam scratched his head.  
"I think so. At least that's what she told Dad."

Musa looked with tears in her eyes to the 7 fresh graves on their right. All of them grew beautiful white flowers that she had only seen once before.

Sam still looked at Musa, confused.  
"Would you like to enlighten me?"

Musa swallowed hard, got up from the bench on shaky legs and ran to the flowers.  
"Here are 7 fresh graves Sam. 7 and not 6."

Sam looked at Musa in amazement.  
"Where do you get that from? I mean, that there are 7."

Musa pointed to the flowers, which formed 7 elongated stripes. Sam swallowed hard.  
"I've only seen these flowers once before."

Sam looked guiltily at Musa.  
"I know that as an earth fairy I shouldn't say that, but I have no idea about these flowers. Plants are more like Terra's territory."

Musa looked at him with tears.  
"These are Miss Dowling's magical flowers."

"How do you know that from?"

"When I had a conversation with her about my mother, I saw them in her office. She explained to me at the time that she did them herself."

Sam also looked at the 7 stripes with concern.  
"Are you saying that-?"

Musa nodded.  
"But she's still alive. I think that are her feelings."

Sam looked worriedly at Musa, whose eyes glowed purple again, while she dropped to her knees and carefully placed her hands on the ground.  
Suddenly Musa was on her feet again and looked at Sam.  
"I think she really is there. We have to get Terra here. Maybe she can do something. She knows some old branches of magic through your father."

Sam nodded and mumbled softly.  
"You wait here and hide. I'll try to get her as soon as possible."

Musa nodded and ran to the trees.

20 minutes later:

"Sam what is it?" Heard Musa Terra's excited voice. She saw Sam dragging Terra behind him on her wrist.  
"We almost got caught! I don't feel like ending up as a punching ball for Rosalind! And how the hell did you-?" Then Terra saw Musa and looked worriedly between her and Sam.

"We need your help. I think I found Miss Dowling."

"WHAT?" Terra asked incredulously and looked at Musa in disbelief and then looked around as if the headmistress would suddenly jump out from behind a tree.

Musa took Terra's hand and pulled her to the seven tombs. Terra looked at Musa and then at the tombs.  
"Are you telling me that she's lying there dead-?"

"No. She's alive. I think so." Musa mumbled softly.

Terra sighed, kneeled in front of the grave and closed her eyes as she ran her hands over the flowers. Suddenly she opened her eyes in shock and looked at Musa.

"Y-you're right. Here's a living presence in the ground and flowers."

"Can you get her out of there?" Sam spoke up.

Terra looked worriedly at the plants.  
"I'm not sure. If it is really like that, that's old magic. I would risk damaging her."

"You have to try! We're not going to get any help, Terra. Dad can't jump into the rift for us this time." Sam explained patiently.

Terra sighed softly and buried her hands lightly in the ground. Her eyes began to glow green.

Musa watched in amazement as some flowers began to grow like tendrils and intertwine. With every passing second they formed a tree. Musa was shocked to see how the trunk formed a human silhouette which at the end of Terra's transformation unmistakably shows Farah Dowling's face.

"Wow." Sam mumbled softly. "You're unbelievable."

Terra also looked astonished at herself at the tree.

"I'm grateful to you, but that still doesn't really help us." Musa muttered to Terra.

Terra looked at Dowling with tears in her eyes.  
"I-I know. I tried. Sorry Aunt Farah."

Sam looked worriedly at his sister and pulled her into his arms.  
"Hey, you were great!"

Terra sighed softly.  
"I have to talk to dad somehow and look around the library. There has to be a way to get her out of there."

Sam nodded.  
"I think that sounds like a plan. We just have to figure out how to hide her from Rosalind and the others for so long."  
Musa and Terra nodded in agreement.  
Then Musa cocked her head slightly and grinned happily.  
"Stella! If she can make herself invisible, I'd bet she can make others invisible too."

Sam looked sadly at Musa.  
"A good idea, but it will take a lot of effort to get her to volunteer through walls with me."

"She owes her that." Terra growled angrily and thought of the conversation in which Stella had told about how much the headmistress actually stood up for the light fairy.


	3. Good news

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here is chapter three, enjoy! Also will upload another one. I kind of have a flow translating 😂...

After a few tries, they managed to get Stella through the walls.  
She looked aghast at the tree.  
"Oh God." Stella mumbled softly. Then she gently put her hands on the trunk and began to let the tree disappear with glowing eyes.

When she and Sam returned, Musa noticed a great exhaustion that Stella radiated.  
Stella seemed to notice Musa's gaze and smiled tiredly.  
"I would like to get upset that you are on my mind again, but I'm too tired for that."  
With that she left the common room and disappeared into her room.

Bloom looked questioningly at Musa.  
"The magic tears at her strength. She feels insecure because it makes her more vulnerable. But she is also happy that Dowling is still alive and that she can contribute."

Bloom nodded.  
"I can understand that. I wish I could contribute something. Now we just have to turn her back from a tree trunk into a normal fairy."

Terra chewed her lower lip.  
"I'm working on it ..." she pointed to the pile of books that she and Sam had stolen from the library.

"Now it remains to be seen what Rosalind and her entourage are planning." Aisha replied.

Bloom looked sadly at the window. The news that Sky had sided with Rosalind stabbed her.  
"Well, Bloom is sure to be of great interest." Replied Musa.  
Bloom looked around worriedly and stopped her gaze on Musa.

"We could try to write a letter to Silva and bring him up to date?" Sam suggested.

"If you don't plan to personally dump it in the cell, it won't work. Rosalind would immediately have doubts and also have the letter examined." Terra replied and thoughtfully looked through one of the books.

Sam looked angrily at Terra "If it has to be." He said with a bitte tone. With that he went on his way and disappeared from the suite.  
Musa looked annoyed at Terra.  
"I'm sorry." She mumbled intimidated and buried herself in her book. "I really didn't mean it."

Aisha looked at her compassionately and smiled encouragingly. "If you hadn't done it, I would have done it."

One day later:

"How can it be that she keeps letting us rot in here? I'm getting hungry." Stella wailed and dropped onto the sofa on which Terra was reading through another douzen books.

"However, the calm also irritates me. Above all, I am surprised that nobody outside is worried about what is going on here." Aisha mumbled and looked worriedly at Musa who quietly said "something is worrying them.".

"What do you mean?" Asked Bloom.

"The mood. Another unrest has come. If I'm not mistaken, that of the guards."  
Exactly at that moment, Sam came running through the wall into the suite, beaming.  
"I have good news!"

Everyone looked at Sam in amazement.

"He broke out. Last night. The guards were pulled to the bars, knocked out and he freed himself with the keys."

"That explains the unrest of the guards." Stella said.  
"They probably expect him to come back here."

Sam nodded. "Dad is sure he'll show up here soon."

"You've talked to dad?" Terra asked wistfully and cast a desperate look at the books that hadn’t brought them any further.

Sam shook his head.  
"No, I only heard how he answered Rosalind when she asked him if he knew how Silva was going to get in here. I'll be on the grounds and try to intercept him."

Bloom looked out the window.  
"Hopefully he'll make it."

Musa agreed with a "hmm" and then looked down at the floor in surprise.  
"Folks, I don't know why, but the folks below are happy."

"About what?" Asked Sam, Stella and Aisha in unison.

"Probably because of this." Bloom replied, pointing to a box that smelled of food.

"Finally!" Stella groaned and made her way to the box.

Sam swallowed hard and looked worriedly at the door.  
"I make a run for it, so that they doesn't even notice that I'm missing. I'll get in touch when there is something new."

Musa had just enough time "Take care!" To call after him.


	4. Return to Alfea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next one. As I said, I have a flow 😂...

A few hours later, Bloom was awakened by low voices. When she entered the common room, Musa looked at her from the opposite side. A figure was lying on the sofa, moaning loudly, Sam was bent over it.

"I found him." Sam whispered softly.  
Bloom and Musa ran quickly to Silva and Sam.  
"He was wounded when he escaped." Sam explained.

Bloom looked at the deep cut that adorned Silva's stomach.  
"We'll somehow manage that again." Bloom mumbled quietly soothingly to the specialist and put a hand on his shoulder while Musa took Silva's hand and tried to curb his pain.

"Bloom get Terra, she should have a healing extract somewhere that she recently brewed with Professor Harvey" asked Musa and looked worriedly at Silva with glowing purple eyes.

Bloom nodded and walked into Musa and Terra's bedroom.  
Terra stormed out of the room sleepily with vials in hand. Meanwhile, the noises had also woken Stella and Aisha.

Aisha built a wall of water that clung to the walls of the room.  
Stella looked at her confused.  
"Water swallows a lot of noise. Silva screaming in pain would probably attract attention, wouldn't it?"  
"Good idea." Stella respectfully agreed.

"Very good," Silva muttered with a weak smile before fainting when Terra dabbed the healing essence on his wound.

In the early hours of the morning Saul woke up and looked around. The sky peaking through the window was mostly dark and showed only a little bit of brighter shades of blue at the horizon. The wound felt a lot better and looked clean. Terra was in no way inferior to her father in this case.  
He sat up carefully.  
Sam and Terra had laid down on the other sofa to sleep. The others seemed to have returned to their beds.  
The rustling of the ceiling had obviously woken Terra.

"You should stay in bed, the wound shouldn't be stressed too much, otherwise it can tear open again." Saul smiled slightly. Terra reminded him more and more of Ben.

"I'm careful, I promise."

Terra continued to look critically, but seemed a little calmer.  
"Thanks for the nurturing. I have to go now. I have to talk to Farah. We have to stop Rosalind somehow."

Terra looked worriedly at Silva. Due to the uproar yesterday, no one had thought of telling him what had happened. She chewed her lower lip uneasily.  
Silva seemed to notice this, he simply had known her for too long.  
"Terra, what happened?"

"She's kinda trapped in a plant." Explained Musa, who came into the room.

"What?" Saul asked irritated and looked at the girls.

"Stella has hidden her with light magic. She somehow is merged with the tree." Musa explained.

Silva frowned.  
Then those present explained to him what had happened.  
"It's very old, ancient magic, if I'm not mistaken. This woman will kill herself with her book magic at some point." He grumbled angrily.

Terra nodded. "That's the problem. I have no idea how to get her out of there. I just managed to make them grow up out of the ground."

Silva looked thoughtfully at Terra.  
"That is an impressive achievement of yours. She will have done that to protect herself. Rosalind has always had the hardest time with earth magic. I'll kill Rosalind if I get my hands on her." He hissed and clenched his fists.

"For that you would have to get out of this room first." Stella replied, bringing Bloom and Aisha with her.

"What?" Saul asked, confused.

"The rooms are magically sealed. Sam is the only one who can wander around."

"I can take one person with me. If there are several it will be more difficult, and I have to worry about leaving someone stuck in the wall."  
Silva looked at Sam and showed a look of appreciation.

"We have to go to Ben, he's the only one who might have an idea how we can free Farah."

Terra sighed softly. Silva looked at her smiling.  
"No offense, but your father has almost 30 years of experience and a close friendship with the biggest book fanatic I know. I'll give you 20 more, and you're just as fit."

Terra looked at him and a proud smile crept onto her face.

"That brings us to another problem. Dad's under constant surveillance. Now even more than he already was." Sam explained with a concerned look. 

Silva looked thoughtfully into the void.  
"Yes, I should have guessed that."

"But what would you do if someone very important was hurt?"  
Those present looked at him, confused.


	5. How to Trick a Guard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, that should be enough for today :D...

An hour later:

"Hey, hello? Can anyone hear me? We need help!"

An angry man appeared in the doorway.  
"What are you screaming about?"

Stella gave him a friendly smile.  
"Apart from the fact that it is 'why are you screaming around, your Highness', Bloom is injured. Terra has apparently thrown a relatively sharp shovel out of anger after her. Well, it is stuck in Bloom's shin along with poisonous plant sap. " Stella pointed to Bloom who was sitting on the sofa with a bloody, festering leg and tears in her eyes.

The guard looked at Bloom's leg with wide eyes.  
"All right. I'll take you to the professor. You help her." He said and looked at Stella with an evil grin, consciously speaking against the polite title. Stella snorted angrily and took Bloom's arm which she put over her shoulder to support Bloom.

When they arrived at Bens, the guard handed them over to the guard present and disappeared.  
While Bloom and Stella hobbled into the room, the guard followed.

"I would like to ask very much! A woman is being treated on the leg here!" Stella hissed and looked indignantly at the guard, who got red ears.

"I'll wait at the door." He tried to respond as authoritatively as he could. Stella smirked smugly when the door was closed.

Ben looked shocked at Bloom's leg.  
"What happened?"

Stella grinned and quickly told the story she had told the guard.

Ben shook his head.  
"Terra would never do that!"

"Right." Stella replied tersely and snapped her fingers. The wound and the shovel disappeared and Bloom wiped the tears from his eyes. "This sap stings my eyes terribly." She whined softly.

Ben's eyes widened. "Light magic, always amazing."

"We needed to talk to you."  
Bloom and Stella told the story and asked Professor Harvey for help.

"It's really difficult. I definitely have a recipe for a basic elixir. But that won't be enough. The missing ingredients are what you will need to be successful."

He scratched a plant with a knife and began to write something on a sheet of paper with its transparent juice. Then he got some ink and started to write a recipe over that.

With quick movements he had then attached a bandage to Bloom's shin for pretense purposes and given her an antidote to the essential oils that had made her cry.

"Give the recipe to Terra. She will know what to do about it."  
In this moment a guard came into the greenhouse and looked suspiciously at the paper.

"What's this?" He hissed and already had his hand on his sword.

"A recipe for the tincture my daughter is supposed to make for Bloom's follow-up treatment. I thought it would be in your interests if the girls didn't have to be brought back here. Especially since my daughter owes Bloom that."

The guard reached out an impatient hand and Bloom let the paper slip into his hand.  
"Henno, come here." He shouted.

Another guard appeared in the room.  
"What is it?"

"You are good at botany, right? What kind of recipe is that?"

The other guard looked at the paper and shrugged.  
"A healing / strengthening tincture."

The guard looked at Ben with a winning smile.  
"So? Strengthening then?"

Ben sighed annoyed. "The girl got poisonous vegetable juices in the wound. Then of course a strengthening tincture is a smart choice, so that she can survive the whole thing!"

The guard looked critically and then sighed.  
"All right. I'll take you back to your room."

In the suite:

Terra happily accepted the paper and suddenly giggled. "Oh dad!"

Bloom and Stella looked at her confused. Likewise, Silva who put on a non-bloody T-shirt brought by Sam.

"He used to give me puzzles as a kid! He used an old trick here. Bloom, I need your help."

Silva shook his head in disbelief and looked at Sam. "Back then when we were at school I always thought that Farah was an incredibly over-ambitious nerd, and then I get to know your father a lot better, and he always managed to surpass her in a certain way. And I have to admit, the opinion is getting stronger every day." Then he smiled and patted Sam on the shoulder with red ears after admitting that he had received similar riddles from his father.

Bloom had meanwhile gone to Terra and looked at the paper with interest.  
"You should heat it up. But please don't burn it!"

Bloom's eyes widened in shock.  
"Oh no, I can't. Can't we use Stella's flattening iron?" She stuttered uncertainly and took a few steps back.

Terra shook her head.  
"For the reaction, the fire has to burn all the oxygen and then heat the paper in the process."

"You can do it. Remember what Ms. Dowling taught you." Aisha said encouragingly and pushed Bloom back to Terra.

Bloom gave a shaky sigh and picked up the paper. She held the other under the paper and began to form a flame that brushed the paper. She beamed when the writing appeared, but the paper didn't burn. "I can do it!"

Terra mumbled happily, "Very good! I haven't actually looked through these books yet!"  
And wrote down her father's literature suggestions.

"Sam, we have a lot to do."  
Sam nodded and took Terra's hand.

"Be careful. If they get you, we'll have quite a problem." Silva declared worried. From him spoke the headmaster of the specialists who would prefer to go out and protect his students by doing the task himself. After all, they were almost children.

Terra quietly followed her brother. They had perfected the way to the library together in the last few days, as only siblings who had sneaked around together as toddlers could do it.  
With a jerk Sam stopped and pulled Terra with him through the wall into a storage room.  
Terra gave him a startled look. Then she heard the steps and voices.

"It worries me. We have to let them believe that everything is fine for the time being. Especially since we have to get rid of the kingdoms anyway." Rosalind's voice explained coolly.

"I'm afraid that you killed our only chance at peace in front of everyone else and as a facade to the outside world." Luna replied coolly too. "I didn't like her very much, but that was a little over the top."

"She would only have caused problems. We have to come up with something else. Andreas continues to keep watch on the grounds. I hope he catches Saul if he is already on his way. I don't really want to kill another talent."  
Explained Rosalind.

"How about this?" Terra's eyes widened in shock. This was definitely Dowling's voice.

Rosalind laughed softly. "I am impressed."

Terra and Sam looked carefully through a crack in the door and saw Rosalind and Farah Dowling standing there. Both apparently stopped.

"The appearance is a light illusion, but what about the voice?" Rosalind asked interested.

Dowling's eyes glowed white, then Luna reappeared, smiling slightly.

"A little thing I practised. I change light waves when I use magic. Well, noises are similar waves. A little training and I can at least change the noises that emanate from me."

Rosalind nodded approvingly.  
"That will definitely be of use to us."

Both made their way to their destination again and disappeared from the corridor.

"D-did you see that ?!" Terra whispered in panic and looked at Sam. He nodded.

"That's a dangerous talent. We have to hurry to get the real Ms. Dowling back!" Terra nodded and pulled Sam with her.

Twenty minutes later they were back in the suite.

"She can do what ?!" Stella asked in dismay and collapsed on the sofa.

"Unsettling." Silva muttered.

"How could she have become such a monster?" Stella stuttered softly and felt tears making their way down her face.

Bloom took Stella in her arms.  
"Whatever she does, you are your own person and not responsible for her!"

"We also have an advantage. We all know this is not Farah." Saul said encouragingly.  
The other present nodded.

"Where is Terra anyway?" Aisha asked Sam, who was leaning against Musa on the sofa, apparently still exhausted from the transports of others through the walls.

"She locked herself in her room and turned over the books." Musa explained.

"If you like you can sleep in my room." Stella mumbled, wiping the tears from her eyes.

Musa smiled broadly.  
"I am honored. I think I will accept the offer, my bed is full of glass vessels with various liquids."

Silva looked thoughtfully out of the window.  
"Sam? Can you take me to the specialists?"

Sam looked at Silva in surprise.  
"In theory, yes, but in practice it amounts to self-imprisonment or suicide. Sky, Riven and Beatrix, patrol there." He explained in what was in a disparaging voice, full of hatred against their opponents.

"Very good." Said Silva and put on his jacket.

Sam looked at him in disbelief.

"I have to go to Sky. I just know he'll hear me out when I explain the situation to him."

Sam shook his head in disbelief while Bloom looked hopefully at Silva.

"If I understand correctly, we're also talking about Sky's father, who you almost killed. For very noble reasons, but still. In this case, I think blood is thicker than water." Aisha explained.

Silva shook his head. "I just have to try!"

"All right I will help, but I can't stay there if they catch me, we don't have any access to potion ingredients for Terra or to information."

Silva nodded understandingly.  
"I'll find my way around as soon as you drop me off there."

Sam sighed slightly. "All right."

Musa's eyes glowed purple.  
"May I just briefly state that this is a completely bad idea and that no one in this room, not even you, is 100% convinced of this plan?"

Silva laughed softly.  
"Keep that honesty. I like that about mind fairies." He winked at Musa and followed Sam to the wall.

Musa felt a surge of affection that was triggered by her but not directed at her.

In an instant they were gone.


	6. Visit your Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't forgotten you :D. Here is Chapter 6 enjoy!

Musa sighed softly and shook her head.  
Bloom looked at her questioningly as she stroked Stella's back soothingly.

"He suffers. All the time." Musa mumbled softly.  
Aisha looked at her questioningly.

"Well, a kind of love sickness. That's why he's so daring." Musa explained and shrugged.

Bloom's eyes lit up.  
"Do you mean Silva and Do-"

"Yes." Musa stopped her. "I mean. We have to help Terra. The sooner the potion is ready, the sooner we can resolve this mess."

The others nodded in agreement and made their way to Terra. Musa was grateful not to have to explain the emotional life of strangers, but was worried about Sam. If Silva wants to throw himself up, that's his business, but bringing Sam into it is also her business ...

"Sam? Could we take a little detour?" Silva asked quietly while they were standing in a deserted side passage.

Sam turned around in surprise.  
"Could we-" Saul stroked his hair nervously. "Can we visit her briefly beforehand? Please?"

Sam understood without Silva having to be more precise.  
"But Sky's father keeps watch on the grounds."

Saul shrugged. "I failed to kill him once. I don't fail a second time."

Sam sighed softly. "Okay, but not too long!" He felt he owed this to Uncle Saul.

Saul looked grateful towards the earth fairy.

Sam took Silva to the cemetery and then disappeared through the wall to give him a little privacy.

Saul looked at the white flowers on the graves and remembered the day he had accompanied the fairies as a guard during their lessons. As Rosalind's request, Farah had grown white flowers from the bowl. She had told him months afterwards, when they were close friends, how incredibly proud she had been to have created something living. He had to smile as he looked at the flowers.

"Sam said you're here somewhere. Stella's magic works really well, at least I don't see you. The kids are amazing. Terra is Ben again. Well, and I think she learned her love for books from her aunt Farah. The others are doing great to. Everyone is working to get you out. Sam is our connection to the outside world. You would be amazed how well your training has helped! You are a wonderful teacher. "

Saul bit his lip lightly. "Even if you are terribly careless when you try new spells yourself. At some point you will kill yourself with it. You gave me a big scare, but we'll get you out of here, and then we'll kick Rosalind in the butt together again. "

He laughed softly. Then he looked shyly into the void, not knowing that he was looking more or less directly into the eyes of Farah's tree figure. "I-I think-" he sighed, turned away and paced restlessly back and forth, "I am a courageous specialist..." he sighed with sarcasm in his voice.  
"I don't even see you, and yet I'm too insanely nervous to tell you ..." restlessly he stroked his hair, then he moved back towards the graves. 'If not now, then maybe never again,' he told himself mentally.

"I love you. I don't want to lose you." He sighed and turned around quickly, as if fearing a refusal from Farah.

Carefully he knocked on the wall through which Sam had disappeared. An arm came through the wall and grabbed him.  
With a jerk he was pulled through the wall and looked at Sam.

"Can you go on?" Sam asked kindly. He had heard the man's confession while looking through the wall for Sky's father, but decided to pretend he hadn't heard it.  
Saul nodded and they both made their way to the specialist wing and with it to Sky.

"Wait here. I'll see if the air is clear first." Sam explained and smiled encouragingly at Saul. He nodded and looked after Sam gratefully.  
Another hand came through the wall and grabbed Saul.

"I think I have something here!" Aisha said, waving an old book with a dangerously creaking spine.

Terra looked at the book with concern.  
"Careful, they are older than we can imagine!"

Aisha rolled her eyes.  
"Another reason the library should be digital." Stella grumbled and leafed through her book, bored. Meanwhile, she had caught herself.

"Oh no." Terra mumbled softly. Bloom looked at her with concern. "What's happening?"

Terra looked up from Aisha's book.  
"The chapter only roughly covers the processes of brewing. It refers to another book that we do not have in the library for more detailed information."

"How do you know which books are in-" Stella began.

"She grew up here." Musa cut her off. Stella shrugged and Musa laughed softly.

"And now?" Bloom asked, concerned.

Terra looked worriedly at the book and sighed softly. "I do not know."

"Which book is mentioned?" Aisha asked interested.

"Rega's Potions Almanac of Antiquity." Terra mumbled softly.

"The title sounds familiar to me." Aisha replied and got up from the floor and made her way to her and Bloom's room.

Terra looked after her confused.  
After a few seconds, Aisha came back into the room with an old book grinning.

"Is that-" asked Terra

"Rega's Potions Almanac of Antiquity" finished Aisha. "I have to add, it's the first edition!"

Terra looked at the book in disbelief and stroked its old cover in awe.  
"Where did you get that from?"

"Oh that's a long story. I asked Ms. Dowling to give me a little more break-time so that I can swim my laps in peace. Then she asked me at lunch one time how I liked the lake and I told her about a water plant that I had never seen before. She let me describe it. At some point she went to her private book collection and showed me a picture of a plant in this book. She said I could borrow it, if I find any more interesting plants that I might can bring to Professor Harvey, if they are useful potion ingredients. Kind of a compensation for the longer break. "

"Now I understand what Silva meant by nerd ..." Stella mumbled, laughing. Bloom had to laugh too.

"Well, both Aisha and Ms. Dowling's nerdyness really helps us now." She added with a guilty expression when she got a dirty look from Aisha.

Terra nodded and beamed at the book. She opened it carefully and looked for the right chapter.

Musa looked thoughtfully at the book as Terra read the instructions.  
"What do you think? How old is that?"

"Almost a thousand years old." Terra answered while her eyes flew over the words.

"How-" asked Bloom, but Aisha interrupted her laughing and pointed to the back on which a 1013 was stamped in with peeling gold letters.

"Oh," Bloom muttered softly.

"That's it!" Shot it from Terra. Everyone looked at her excitedly.

"Really?" Bloom asked, beaming, while Terra got up, closed the book, and made her way to her room.  
"I'm 90% sure." She called and closed the door.

"90%? That's still 10% for the crooked side." Aisha mumbled softly.

"Ancient magic can no longer really be reconstructed. Parts of the ancient knowledge have been lost." Stella explained.  
"Much of the solarian magic of light has now been lost in the depths of time."

"I think 90% is a good rate for that, isn't it?" Bloom said uncertainly. Musa agreed with her.

"Better than Luna's projection that does something under Ms. Dowling's name."

Stella sighed softly. "Yeah, I wish she'd forgotten that magic too."

"Hey cheer up, we can handle it. Now our top job is to keep Terra's efforts a secret from the guards." Musa explained.

Stella nodded in agreement. "Shouldn't be a big problem though. At the moment we're being ignored anyway." Aisha added.

Saul felt how he slipped through the wall and saw Sam's startled look. Rosalind and Andreas stood behind Sam and smirked at him.

"Look, look, we found the bugs crawling through this building." Rosalind said coolly.


	7. When Things Going Downhill You Have to Run Upwards

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there :D  
> Here is number seven. This time it's a little longer, didn't wanted to cut it into two :/. So see it as a sunday double :D

Andreas' sword tip pierced threateningly into Sam's neck, just about to break through his skin and tear the boy from his life.  
Sam looked at Saul with tears in his eyes. "I am sorry." He mumbled softly.

Saul swallowed hard. Somehow he had to help the boy escape.

With one smooth movement Saul blocked Andreas' sword away from Sam's neck, pushed the boy to the wall and lunged at Rosalind and Andreas. Apparently neither of them had expected the attack.

"Get out!" Saul screamed and saw Sam stumbling onto the wall with tears in his eyes.

Panting in panic, he ran through the walls and tried to bypass all possible guards. Hopefully Rosalind hadn't gotten any idea about who he really was. He had to hurry and warn the girls. "Musa is in danger," it rushed through his mind.

So deep in thought that he almost missed the fact that he had run past the suite. He quickly ran through the wall and looked into the surprised faces of Bloom, Stella, Aisha and Musa.

Musa's eyes immediately glowed purple.  
"We have to get out of here." She mumbled in unison with Sam.

Sam nodded.  
"We can't, Terra is brewing the potion." Aisha explained.

"They caught Sam and Silva, and Silva sacrificed himself." Musa explained.

"We have to go somewhere where we are safe and the potion can be continued."

Sam's eyes still sparkled.

"It's not your fault. We all warned him. They won't kill him." Tried Musa to calm Sam down.

"I shouldn't have dragged him through the wall, before I really looked around." Sam mumbled softly.

Bloom ran to Terra's room and knocked carefully on the door before opening it.  
Terra looked at Bloom in surprise.

"When would you have the potion ready enough that we could transport it and brew it somewhere else? And what do you need for it?"  
Terra looked at Bloom in amazement.

"When the blue root has cooked through, the potion has to cool down before I can continue. In theory, that would be a good time. Why?"

"When is that the case?"

Terra shrugged and raised her eyebrows at Bloom.

"I'm not sure. Estimated in 20 minutes if I look at the roots like that." As she did so, she poked at the roots with a trowel. "Now would you like to tell me what's going on here?"

"What do you need for the rest of the brew?"

"BLOOM! ANSWER ME! FOR A CHANGE." Terra shouted angrily. No more the cheerful, lively Terra.

Bloom looked at her in surprise.  
"Silva got into Rosalind's hands. Sam could just run away. But it won't be long before they will find him here. Or Silva will suffer from it."

Terra gave a startled sigh. "Is Sam okay?"  
Bloom nodded.

"Well, we'd have to take a lot of ingredients with us. In theory, Dad's office would be the best option. We have a problem, by the way."  
Bloom looked at Terra with concern.  
"We need a hair from Ms. Dowling. The potion needs a magical copy of what it needs to recreate."

Bloom swallowed.  
"Where should we get a hair from?"

Terra sighed softly. "Yes, I asked myself that too."

"Very simple. Ms. Dowling must have a brush." Stella replied who came running into the room.

"Of course. Rosalind will surely keep it for emotional and nostalgic reasons after she killed her." Aisha explained dryly.

Stella looked at Aisha and tossed her hair disparagingly back.  
"Have you seen a burning pile of Ms. Dowling's belongings so far? No? Neither have I. Even if they are no longer in their place, they still exist somewhere here in the school."

"A new riddle ..." Sam sighed softly. Musa stroked his hair lovingly.  
"How about you rest? We need you in half an hour at full strength."

Sam looked at Musa uncertainly.  
"I still think I can't move you all at once. That being said, Dad's office isn't an option."  
Terra looked worriedly at her brother.

"We'll take it. A fortress against Rosalind. Your dad can help us shield and secure the greenhouses and the office. We're fairies with powers, after all. It's time we kick them in their buts." Stella suggested.

Aisha laughed lightly. "I like the attitude." She rubbed her hands together. "I have a new trick up my sleeve. I affectionately call it the water-ice fist."

The others joined in laughter. Musa smiled slightly. It was nice to finally feel something other than hopelessness, pain, guilt and worry in these days. The enthusiasm for action and the joy of the others also infected her.

20 minutes later:

"Okay I think I have everything." Terra explained when she had closed her potion with a cork in a bottle and packed the book and several glasses and vials with various ingredients in her backpack.

Sam breathed heavily in and out. A slight tremor could be heard.

While the surrounding girls were discussing the plan again, he closed his eyes and tried to concentrate. His mind wandered to the afternoon in Dowling's sunlit office.

While all 2-graders had a pleasant afternoon on the green area outside, he sat in the headmistress’s office and looked tiredly at the pot of tea from which steam rose.

Farah Dowling was sitting at her desk, looking intently at the sheets of paper in front of her, which must be the first-graders' tests. He was there too early. Farah had asked him to sit down, so she could take a few minutes to end the grading and making a cup of tea for both of them.

His friends laughed at him when he voluntarily started walking to his meeting 20 minutes early. He had to smile a little himself. Anyone else would be happy to sit outside too, but he was actually looking forward to the tutoring, which also served in part as a punishment, as he had used his powers in an unauthorized manner. However, he didn't really feel punished in any real sense.

He felt reminded of the time when Ms. Dowling was still Aunt Farah and had temporarily taken care of him and his sister, when his father sank into work and was simply overwhelmed with him and Terra alone and also Saul had to do too much with Sky and his own work. He loved the time. They had wandered around Alfea a lot. They had met with Sky and Saul many times. Back then hide-and-seek games were absolutely the best.

"Is everything ok?" Sam felt how his teacher's voice brought him back into the present.

He smiled tiredly. "Yeah, I was a little distracted."

"And apparently tired. A cup of tea should wake you up again." Farah explained with a laugh and began to conjure up a cup of tea in front of his nose.

Farah's eyes glowed blue briefly and then turned back to their warm brown. She smiled wryly. Sam looked at her a little embarrassed and then stared into his cup. She was trained to block out the others, but at one point she had explained to him and Terra that it was harder for her to block out people who were important to her. As children, the two of them hadn't resented her. After all, she was just Aunt Farah, whom they'd run to whenever something bothered them. Now Sam felt a little monitored. Now Ms. Dowling was sitting in front of him and not Aunt Farah.

"Nostalgia. Interesting. Now I'm curious. What goes through a young man's mind when he gets nostalgic?" She explained and sat down on the chair across from Sam and looked at him with an amused curiosity that hardly reminded of the strict headmistress he knew from teaching.

Sam felt his ears warm up.  
"I had to think of the time in Alfea when I was a child."

Farah laid her head on her folded hands and eyed Sam with interest.

Sam remembered this gesture from many moments when she had patiently listened to the worries of a 5-year-old. Whether it was the monsters under the bed or the little sister who stole one of his toys from him without asking for permission.

Sam took a heartfelt breath and couldn't help but grin broadly when he thought of a really legendary snowball fight that must have taken place just before Christmas about 11 years ago.

"The snowball fight, for example." He explained and grinned cheekily.  
"For someone who can intercept flying objects with magic, I've hit the headmistress pretty well. Quite a poor achievement to be overpowered by a 5-year-old."

Farah laughed softly.  
"Well, if I remember correctly, you walked through the wall we were hiding behind. That wasn't entirely fair." Then she looked briefly as if she had bitten into a lemon and added warmly: "In the additional lessons I would prefer " you " than headmistress."

Sam grinned even wider now, a warm feeling of familiarity flowed through him. It wasn't Headmistress Dowling who was sitting there, but Aunt Farah again.  
"Well, I might have cheated, but Saul scored relatively well without any tricks."

Sam remembered how a completely snowy Farah with a no less soaped Terra came out from behind the wall laughing and raised her hands up and gave up the battle. Shortly thereafter, 3 snowballs suddenly rained down on Sky, Saul and Sam out of nowhere. Sam swore to this day that he saw her eyes glow briefly, but she hypocritically denied it to this day.

"Touché" answered Farah with a laugh.  
"Well we have gotten off the real topic. Let's start with the exercise."

Sam gave an enthusiastical smile. He watched as Farah came walking around the table and took his hands in hers. Carefully but with some strength that he hadn't thought her capable of, she pulled Sam onto his legs and guided him to one of the office walls.

"Close your eyes and breathe deeply in and out." Farah instructed him.

Sam did as he was told.

"Concentrate on my voice. Remember the emotional moments that you connect with me and try to feel the resulting force flowing through your body."

Sam thought of the many afternoons he'd sat on the couch in this office, leafing through books without understanding their contents. The pictures were the interesting thing until Aunt Farah finished her work and read out to him and Terra from one of the books. He smiled and felt the warm feeling that he had already become aware of flowing through his body.

"Very good." He heard Farah say. "Now you have to try to get it into the palm of your hand and extend it to me."

Sam felt how he let the energy wander through his body, felt how the energy combined with other magical energy that was alien but so well known.

Then he felt Farah pulling him in one direction. He felt the cool feeling he was familiar with, that he always noticed when he was walking through a wall. Startled, he opened his eyes and looked at Farah who was standing across from him and looked at him with a broad, proud grin. Stunned, Sam looked around and recognized the seminar room next to the headnistress' office.

"I've did it." Sam muttered in disbelief.

Farah cocked her head slightly and gave him an encouraging smile.  
"I don't see why you shouldn't have made it. You are constantly expanding your magical field. Every time you walk through a wall with your school backpack. Now it was maybe a little harder because you had a connection to another magical, living being. You had to reach another person's magic core, but since mine was no stranger to you, that wasn't too big a jump. Just remember, you have to keep the magic constantly distributed in a controlled manner, otherwise you run the risk of leaving someone or a part of someone stuck in a wall. And for someone who isn't an Earth Fairy, that's pretty deadly in the long run. "  
She looked at him with a look of dry humor on her face.

He laughed nervously. Then he stormed up to her and pulled her into a tight hug. He felt her stiffen briefly, but then put her arms around him and laughed slightly.

"Thank you." He mumbled softly. He felt her pull him closer for a moment and then answered.

"It's best to concentrate before you try to bring someone into your magical field. Breathe deeply in and out."

Sam nodded.

Farah smiled proudly. Then her eyes fell on the clock, and she let go of Sam.

"I think it is better if you sleep on what you have learned today, before we try to develop it. I also have to go to an appointment myself now."

Sam nodded with a grateful smile. 

"Same time next week?" Farah asked in a good mood and Sam agreed. Not knowing that the next week would bring completely different problems or that Farah's appointment was a burned one.

"Sam?"  
Sam looked up at Musa, startled. She gave him an encouraging smile.  
He smiled back. He took a deep breath in and out. Then he got up from the couch.

"So guys you all have to touch me. Preferably on the hands or the arms. The less I have to distribute my magic, the easier it is."  
The girls all nodded. They touched his arms on either side of Sam. Musa took his hand on the left, Terra smiled encouragingly at him on the right.

"You can do it." She said almost in a whisper and squeezed Sam's right hand. He smiled and closed his eyes.  
>>Concentrate on my voice. Remember the emotional moments that you connect with me and try to feel the resulting force flowing through your body.<< it shot through Sam's head.  
He remembered Musa's kiss, Terra's hugs, the funny moments he had experienced with Terra and Musa's friends and suddenly felt 5 magical cores which he slowly and carefully enveloped with his energy. Then he started walking.  
Ten minutes later they arrived at the cemetery.

"From here we can sneak to the greenhouses without further tapping into Sam's energy." Aisha explained and patted Sam on the shoulder appreciatively.

Musa beamed at him and gave him a deep kiss. "You've managed it!"  
He smiled tiredly.  
Stella's gaze wandered to the graves. She snapped and a tree appeared in everyone's view.

"Woah, that's creepy." Aisha mumbled and walked over to Dowling's tree shape with a worried look.  
Bloom felt tears welling up in her eyes, guilt creeping into her.

"We have to go on, otherwise we will be caught. They are alarmed!" Sam warned.

Stella sighed, snapped again and the tree disappeared again. They crept quickly in the direction of the greenhouses.  
Aisha beamed when she saw 2 guards in front of the doors.

Terra sniffed lightly.  
"He's brewing Zhanbaq. Probably for Rosalind's crusade against absolutely everyone." She mumbled bitterly.

"Now watch out." It came from Aisha.  
Aisha cracked her fingers and her neck and began to let an inconspicuous puddle of water crawl across the floor.  
Before the guards were aware of this, the water travelled up their legs to their waist and froze to ice.  
Aisha's eyes turned brown again, and she grinned when Terra shot out of hiding and grew tendrils around the guards before they could even sound the alarm. The two men hung unconscious in the still firm tendrils.

"Terra, would you be that good?" Bloom asked with a worried face, tugging the tendrils around the men's necks. Terra sighed and snapped and the tendrils in those places became loose.

They walked quickly through the door of the greenhouse, so fast that they did not notice the guard who was keeping watch in the room. Ben looked scared at the fairies.  
Aisha let the water wander around her fist and hit the guard. Before the water fist hit the man, it froze to ice. The man slumped unconscious on the floor.  
With a quick wave of his hand, Ben had plants wrapped around the man and let them carry him through a skylight onto the roof, where they held him.

"My dear ones-" Aisha bowed and let the water that covered her arm as an extended fist drip down while she grinned broadly and did a bow. "the water-ice fist."

Ben beamed.  
"Amazing. A really special branch of the water talent." Then his gaze wandered to Sam and Terra. "You are fine!" With that he pulled them both in an embrace. "They said they had Saul. I was so afraid for you." He whispered softly and pressed both closer to him.

"We're fine dad." Terra mumbled softly. Sam swallowed hard with tears in his eyes. "The thing with Uncle Saul is unfortunately true."

Ben looked at Sam worried.  
"We can explain the whole thing while we keep brewing the potion." Stella said firmly and pushed Terra over to the counter.  
Terra nodded and began to spread out the ingredients and the book. Ben let the others explain everything to him.

"That's worrying. Luna already had the talent to use her powers destructively when she was still at school ..." and he saw Stella "no offense." Stella shrugged.  
"It's okay. I'm not proud of her."

"Now we have to get hold of Ms. Dowling's hair somehow." Musa explained.

Ben had walked over to Terra and looked proudly at the potion his daughter was taking care of.  
"I feared something like that. The good thing is, I have the other rare ingredients here. Thanks to Aisha." He explained.  
The fairies nodded.

Sam sighed softly. Then he looked at Bloom, Musa and Stella.  
"I would say we should go looking for her things. So far, Stella's plan is the only one we have."

Aisha looked confused at Sam. He smiled at her.  
"I would feel better if you took care of them. You are good at your powers. I know Dad and Terra are strong, but, according to Saul, Rosalind has an aversion to earth magic. It stands to reason that their attacks are on this form of magic reacts most strongly as a protection against their own weakness. "

Aisha nodded reassured and a little proud. "I'll take care of both of them!"  
Sam smiled and looked at the others.

"Shouldn't any of us also stay here?" Stella asked in surprise.

"We need you in case your mother used a light hiding place to hide things. Musa has to look out for anyone around. While I concentrate on all of you, I lose some of my awareness myself when bringing people with me. Bloom is our insurance, that the guards don't just kill us directly, she is too important to Rosalind. In addition, she is the only one who can fly and maybe that's exactly what we need. " Explained Sam. Ben beamed proudly at his son.  
The girls nodded and followed Sam out of the greenhouse.


	8. Saving Saul?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That should be all for today. The next ones I have to translate first... But I can say, the first 20 Chapters are already written :D

"Where would I hide things that nobody should find." Stella mumbled softly and looked at the building that was ahead of them.

"There where nobody dares to look for them and where I have a relatively constant view of them." Musa muttered.

Her gaze wandered to the windows that must have belonged to the director's office.  
The others followed her gaze while hiding in a bush.

"So if I took over an office, I would certainly not leave my predecessor's things there." Stella said irritated.

Musa shook her head.  
"Maybe not, but I would keep it close. Ms. Dowling has quite useful stuff there, just as the load of books for example."

Sam nodded. "I have an idea. Next to the office is a seminar room that has hardly been used. It is probably from Rosalind's time of the war speeches."

"How do you know the room then?" Bloom asked in surprise.

Sam shrugged. "Terra and I always played in there when we were with Aunt Farah, and she had appointments."

Stella and Musa looked at Sam a little aghast.  
"It's really unusual." Stella replied to Sam's use of the headmistress' first name.

"Oh I am sorry." He mumbled softly. Since they were now near the office.

They hid in a side passage. Musa's eyes turned purple. "I have bad news." She mumbled softly and her gaze wandered to the shadows that were gradually moving in their direction.

"Bea, that's a terrible idea."

"Don't cry. Dad allows me. Somehow we have to squeeze the information out of him. The little cockroach can move around freely. Rosalind will be at my feet when I deliver him to her. And there is still electricity that doesn't kill immediatly."

"Sky is going to get angry."

"Riven, if you really think that Sky is still interested in Silva you are really more simple-minded than I thought."

"Please be a little more humane. He is still weakened from the attack of the burned."

"Hmm funny. When he knocked out the guard in prison he was actually quite fit. And tell me, whose side are you on?" Beatrix replied coolly and turned the corner. Her eyes widened with joy when she saw Stella.

"Oh look at you. Another escapee." Riven's eyes widened frightfully. Behind Beatrix, he mouthed a "Please run away".  
Beatrix's hands flicked lightning while she grinned angrily at Stella.

"Hello my love. I would recommend you not to hurt me. Mother would be very angry, of course."  
Stella said, collecting and bundling light magic in her palms.

"Hmmm the last few days she was very happy with not seeing you." ...

Sam and Bloom rummaged through the boxes that were in the room. Musa stood at the door. Her eyes glowed purple.  
"We have to hurry. Beatrix exudes an absolutely insane anger paired with joy."

"It's just old stuff. Nothing that looks like Aunt Farah's." Explained Sam.

"We need Stella. She has to search the room for a light hiding place." Said Bloom in frustration.

Musa sighed softly.  
"Unfortunately she can't do that right now." Bloom shook her head.  
"We have to help her."

Musa nodded.  
With quick steps they were also in the corridor in which Beatrix and Stella were fighting.  
Riven stood rooted behind Beatrix and looked terrified at the two fairies who were shooting at each other lightning and balls of light.  
Musa had an idea at that moment.  
She quickly ran to Stella and touched the fairy's shoulder. She tried to radiate absolute calm. She saw Stella pause in surprise and look at Musa.

"You have to try." Musa muttered. "There is no other way of getting out of here."

Stella concentrated and let Beatrix and Riven sink into a world she had created through light. "It'll work," Stella whispered with tears of joy in her eyes.

"We don't have time to fight. We have to get out of here and quickly search the room beforehand." Sam explained quietly to her.  
For him, Beatrix and Riven just stood in the corridor and looked blankly into nothing.

"The spell won't last long." Stella explained and took Sam's hand.  
"Bring me into the room. We have to get Silva out of there afterwards, or he won't survive the night."

Sam nodded and disappeared through the wall with Stella. Bloom and Musa looked at their two opponents with concern.  
Less than a minute later, Stella and Sam came walking through the wall again.  
Stella held a brush in her hand, in which the hair hung, depending on the color and length, could well be that of her headmistress.  
Stella closed her eyes with a frown.  
"We have to hurry, my magic facade is crumbling."

The others nodded and followed Musa, who in turn used the feeling of guilt and love sickness as target points to find Silva.

"Do you think that's really hers?" Bloom asked, looking at the brush that was strapped to Stella's belt.

Stella nodded. "I'm very sure. It was with other personal things of hers." Sam confirmed this with a nod. Then Sam stopped and pulled all three through a wall.

"What the hell was that supposed to mean?" Stella asked who got back to her feet after they had all fallen by the jolt.  
Sam raised his finger to his lips to indicate that she must keep quiet.  
Then Stella heard the heavy footsteps of guard boots trampling past them.

"Seems like the winds of Rivens and Beatrix have gotten into shape." Sam explained and pulled all three through another wall.

Musa guided them into a tower in the building. They were shocked to see massive bars there, in front of which a guard was standing guard and behind which Saul Silva was lying on the floor in an embryonic position and breathing shallowly and audibly.

Sam looked at the man, startled. Musa felt the guilt he was radiating and sighed softly.  
"Sam please, you can't help it okay?" She whispered to him.

Stella watched the guard. "Musa can you help me again?"

"I can-" began Bloom.

"What? Burn that guy?" Stella intervened and saw Bloom look at Stella, discouraged and angry.

"Hey, listen, I'm sorry, but a burned guard is more noticeable than one who is staring indifferently into nothing."

Bloom sighed softly. "It's okay. You're right."

Musa crawled over to Stella and put her hand on the light fairy's shoulder. She felt how the doubts about herself were blown away and her courage returned. She created a world around the guardian that kept him trapped and then nodded.

"We have to hurry, as I think Beatrix is on the way to us." Sam explained and touched the metal bars.

Musa nodded. "I can feel them coming."

Bloom searched the guard. "There is no key here."

"Of course not." Stella grumbled. "How could we have been so stupid?" She slapped the palm of her hand against her forehead. "Rosalind wouldn't make the same mistake twice."

Sam continued to look at the bars and then ran over the wall in which they were set.  
He took a deep breath and disappeared into the wall.  
Musa gave a startled squeak.  
"Sam! It's a tower, you run into nowhere!"

At that very moment he reappeared behind the bars and grinned broadly.

"How-?" Put Bloom on.

"I ran around the grille in the wall. It'll be a little more difficult for two, especially because I don't know how much breath he can hold, but better than nothing." The three fairies nodded and watched Sam Saul carefully try to sit up.

Musa's eyes glowed purple.  
"SAM WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE. NOW!"

Sam looked pityingly at Silva and pulled him up mercilessly. Silva groaned pained and held his stomach.

"I'm sorry, hold your breath." Sam mumbled softly and pulled Silva into the wall.

Musa turned from the spectacle to the door.  
Stella also looked at the door. "Bloom how about a nice wall of fire?" She asked.

Bloom nodded and held out her hands. At that moment Beatrix and some guards broke through the door.  
Small flames grew and formed a great wall of fire between them and their opponents, just in time before they could get to them.

"NO!" Bloom heard Beatrix scream on the other side. Sam appeared with Silva, who had blue lips and gasped for air.

"Away from here!" Sam called over the roar of the raging fire.

"How?" Musa called and looked worriedly at the only exit which was now blocked not only by guards but also by Bloom's fire.

Sam sighed. "Why didn't you-?" He started turning to Stella.  
She looked at him and pointed to the guard, who was still leaning against the bars on the floor and staring into nothing.  
"I keep this guy in check and at the same time pull on my strength to hide trees." Stella hissed.

Sam looked at her apologetically. "I forgot."

Bloom looked at the others. "I have to try to get you guys out of here." She let her wings appear and looked at the only window that was on their side.

Bloom took Sam's hands and mumbled softly "I hope I can fly as well as I imagine ...". Sam looked at her encouragingly and looked at Silva, who was supported by Musa and Stella and pulled unconscious on their shoulders.

She pulled Sam with him and snorted.  
"You could have eaten less pizza." When she set him down on a lower roof, he laughed. "I'm sorry."

Bloom gradually began to fly the remaining three to the roof. The last one was Stella.

"Please don't drop me." She mumbled in panic and clutched Bloom's wrists.  
"I'm going to try my best." Bloom replied through clenched teeth.

On the other side of the fire, Beatrix angrily bombarded the wall of fire with lightning bolts and fast, cutting air spheres.  
Then with a flash of inspiration she looked at her hands.

"Get out of the room." She shouted angrily to the guards. These immediately ran out of the room.

Beatrix formed a sphere of air around her head and began to force all other air out of the window. The fire slowly became smaller and went out completely. The atmosphere disappeared and the guards looked astonished through the door frame at Beatrix.

"WHAT? NEVER TAKE CARE IN PHYSICS?" Beatrix growled when she realized that the group had escaped.  
"Search now. And God help you, if you won't have them until Rosalind, Andreas and Luna are back."  
With that, the guards ran from the tower into the building.


	9. Back to the Living

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, you're insane. Over 1000 hits O.o... thanks a lot, hope this chapter is a good thanks for that :D!

Bloom looked around the corner.  
"The air is clean." She mumbled softly.

As fast as possible it was with Silva they walked to the greenhouse.

Ben looked up worried when the 5 appeared in the greenhouse. Aisha lowered her water fist and gave a reassured groan.  
"Guys, I really thought you were opponents." Then her eyes fell on Silva, and she mumbled.  
"Oh shit."

Before anyone could do anything, Ben was with Saul and helped him to the stairs where he had been lying weeks earlier with the burned wound.  
"Nice to see you again too." Silva groaned softly with a forced smile.

"Apparently he has become more talkative on the way here." Stella joked.  
However, Musa looked a little pained at the man whose torn abdominal wound was being tended by Terra.

Ben looked at her worried.  
"You don't have to tell me. I know Rosalind's interrogation methods well enough."

Musa looked gratefully at Ben.   
"What is he talking about?" Bloom mumbled softly and looked at Musa, who just shook her head.

Ben kneeled down next to Saul and began to whisper softly in his ear after Terra had moved away and continued tending to the potion.

Stella looked at Terra and then beamed.  
"Look what we have!"  
She waved the brush as she did so.

Terra beamed. "Great!"  
She quickly took the brush and collected the few hairs from it.

Carefully she stuffed it into a test tube and poured a liquid over it. Bloom, Musa, Stella, Sam and Aisha looked puzzled when the whole thing began to foam and slowly turned a light blue color.

Aisha chuckled softly. The others looked at her confused.  
Then Aisha gently nudged Bloom's ribs with her elbow and mumbled, "Looks more appetizing than Crabbe or Goyle."  
Bloom couldn't help but grin while the other girls looked at her in confusion.  
Bloom just shook her head and mumbled something about "first world literature which in this case just seems ridiculous."

Terra carefully added the blue liquid to the poison green potion. Everyone present (except for Ben and Saul who were still busy elsewhere) made amazed noises when the potion turned a crystal clear color.  
"It's done." Explained Terra.

"Then we have to get it to Farah quickly." It came from the corner where Silva looked upright again and looked more relaxed. Whatever Ben had told him had to have some kind of magical effect. In addition, he had tended and bandaged the wound.  
"Rosalind was with Andreas and Luna in Farah's form with some wire-pullers to distract them from Alfea. We don't have much time left."

Terra poured the potion into a bottle and stopped it. Ben stowed a few vials of various potions in his pockets, as well as bandages.

The group made their way to the abandoned cemetery.  
Musa looked around. "Nobody's here yet." She explained.

"No wonder. They're searching the school for us." Stella replied and snapped her finger. The tree appeared in everyone's view.  
Bloom heard a choked noise from Silva and Ben looked worriedly at the tree.

"I hope this really works." Terra mumbled softly and a concerned look fell on the bottle in her hand.

Musa felt a deep longing emanating from Silva. She moaned softly. Again she felt Ben's gaze resting on her.  
"Not only do you think so." He explained quietly and smiled at her. Musa felt sympathy emanate from him. True, he had to watch the tragedy between the two for a long time and was able to assess the emotions of his best friends even without any form of magic. Musa wanted nothing more than to feel a little peace and love instead of this longing.

Silva walked after Terra to the tree and looked at the tree shape with wide eyes.  
Careful not to spill anything, Terra distributed the potion around the trunk.

"Can you help Aisha?" Aisha nodded. Her eyes glowed blue, and she used her strength to push the potion into the ground to a level where she suspected the roots were. Then everyone was amazed when the shape of Farah began to glow and the wood slowly became human again.

Farah's eyes glowed blue briefly, then she slumped unconscious to the ground. Silva caught her quickly and sank to the floor with her in her arms.  
The others looked happily at Terra who smiled proudly.

"Group Hug!" Aisha called and pulled the fairies into a hug.  
Musa closed his eyes with relish. Finally, there was some emotional calm around Silva. Ben looked at both of them with happy smiles.

Silva pulled Farah tighter in his arms.  
"You are fine. You live, you live." He kept repeating in a low whisper like a mantra that he still had to convince himself of. He buried his face in Farah's hair and inhaled the familiar scent.

He felt Farah move slightly in his arms. His gaze wandered to her face.  
Under heavy lids, brown warm eyes looked at him with a slight smile.  
"You made it." She said softly and weakly with pride in her voice.

Saul laughed softly.  
"Oooh no, I was saved by them too. I think we both did a good job with them." There was paternal pride in his voice.

Farah laughed softly and buried her face in the crook of his neck.  
"We still have a word to say to each other. But now I have to regain my strength. Maintaining the magic of life was very exhausting. Trees have an amazingly eventful life."

Saul looked at Farah worriedly.  
"What do we need to talk about?" But then he smiled  
"Such a nerdy sentence can only come from you. Have bark beetles nibbled on you?" He laughed softly and ran his hands over her arms to imitate the beetles.  
He wouldn't get an answer for the time being.  
He saw how Farah's eyelids became heavier and heavier and felt how she relaxed again in his arms, but wore a slight smile on her lips.

At that very moment the girls looked at him.  
"We have to leave the area. At the moment I'm afraid we're safer behind the shield than in the shield."

Ben nodded in agreement.  
"I know a place where we can take shelter for the time being. And plan our next steps. Rosalind knows it, but shouldn't look there first."

Saul nodded, lifted Farah in bridal style and looked at Ben expectantly.  
"Run forward. We'll follow you. We should hurry up before the twits get the idea to search the open area."

Ben hummed in agreement, but looked worriedly at Saul, who, despite Farah's low weight, was struggling a little. He was still injured after all and was clearly dragging the injured side of his body. "Shouldn't be long now. Rosalind and the others should be back soon." 

Neither of the adults noticed how Bloom giggled and nudged Aisha as she saw how loving and careful Saul was with Farah.


	10. Friends Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo,  
> I haven't forgotten you. I just came home late yesterday after working, so I wasn't that thrilled to do anything anymore after that.  
> Funny thing was, a guy was there that looked from head to toe like Ben :D. Had to smile when he was walking through the store. As if he had known, that this chapter will show quite a lot of Ben, one of the oldest friends of Farah and Saul.
> 
> Anyways, this chapter is a little longer so you hopefully won't mind that I didn't upload yesterday. Maybe there will be another one later.
> 
> Have fun!

For a few hours they wandered through the forest until they came to a barn that reminded Bloom of the one in which they had looked for the burnt one. When she thought back to it, it felt like years ago.

"Bloom could you light a fire?" Silva asked after he leaned the unconscious Farah on his jacket against the wall.  
"We need warmth and light."

Bloom nodded and began to stack some pieces of wood to light them, obviously glad to be able to make herself useful in a safe controlled manner she practised with Farah before in the lessons.

Aisha conjured water from the moss into the cups that Terra and Ben had made from leaves. Everyone sat around the fire and discussed what had happened. After a while, everyone fell asleep. Only Ben and Saul were still awake. The war in the past had trained them not to sleep easily. Saul had taken Farah in his arms and, lost in thought, stroked her loose hair. Ben looked at her and sighed softly. He pulled out a vial and handed it to Saul.

"I almost forgot." He said with a quiet smile. "Maybe that will help a little, this is a remnant of the strengthening potion I had brewed."

Saul began to drip the tincture into Farah's mouth and beamed as her eyes slowly fluttered open.

Ben mumbled astonished "It works right away."

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty." Saul said with a laugh. He was still subconsciously stroking her hair.  
She smiled sleepily at him, still not completely conscious of it.

"Are you feeling better?" Saul asked carefully.

"I guess so." Farah mumbled softly, as she was beginning to understand what was going on around her. She tried to straighten up a little awkwardly.  
Saul helped her by stabilizing her at the waist. She looked sleepily at Ben who beamed at her.

"I'm really glad you two are fine." Said Farah and felt how arms embraced her again on both sides.

"Then first think about how happy we both are." Ben mumbled softly and pulled her close.

She giggled softly.  
"I hope you didn't let our school go completely downhill." Then she looked almost caringly at the sleeping fairies and smiled broadly. "Fortunately, it doesn't seem to be the case."

Ben shook his head with a smile, Saul laughed softly and shot back: "Sorry, it doesn't look that good, although we haven't stood around for a few weeks as a more or less motionless creature in a nice garden." He started to tickle her sides.

She laughed softly and held his hands tight. "You have no idea how exhausting it is to be a plant!"

Ben grinned broadly and looked at the students.  
"I think we should get some sleep soon. We'll need the energy. Tomorrow when we are well rested, better plans will certainly come to our minds"

Farah nodded and looked at the two men. "I'm on watch. As Saul has just noticed, I've had enough rest."

Saul looked at Farah with a concerned look.  
"That is supposed to be a bad joke, right? If what Rosalind has planted in me in terms of thoughts even remotely corresponds to what she did to you, then ..." he broke off and swallowed hard.

Ben felt that he was out of place in this conversation and mumbled softly "Wake me up if you want to sleep" and disappeared into the back corner of the barn where the others had been lying down.

Farah looked at Saul, confused.  
"What are you talking about?"

He sighed softly and looked into the fire. He told how it came to his second capture.

"That explains the constant guilt the boy exudes." Farah mumbled softly and looked at Sam.

"She tortured me. She wanted to know where I had found shelter and what I was planning. First physically. A few lightning bolts with which she grilled me. Nothing that I could not bear. After she was unsuccessful, she started to settle herself in my mind and showed me things. That was a spell I had never seen her use before. "

He felt tears welling up in his eyes. Farah moved a little closer to Saul and laid her head on his shoulder to call into his awareness that she was there and healthy.

"She showed me you. How she tortures you. Hurts you, kills you. How she snaps you neck or-" He broke off and whimpered slightly.  
"She almost got me that far. If Sam and the girls hadn't come, she would have broken me with you." He sighed.

Then he felt how Farah took his hand and put it between her warm, narrow hands.  
"The only thing that's true about it is the story about the neck. Well, that's what she thinks. I used a little light magic. She did it to make you feel insecure. Stop blaming yourself about it."

He looked at Farah, his blue eyes piercing her brown ones. Her warm hands were the anchor he needed at that moment to keep from going completely crazy while he thought of the implanted memories.

"Yes, Ben assured me of that and somehow nurtured me, but it still sticks. Even if you are here with me now, the pictures won't go away." He looked back into the fire with slightly red ears.  
"You are one of my biggest weaknesses." He muttered uncertainly.

Farah cocked her head and smiled slightly. "The four of us have always have been thisfor each other. Rosalind designed our group to be so, in order to have leverage in case of doubt."

He looked dazed into the fire.  
Then he heard a slight laugh.  
"I still have a bone to pick with you anyway."

Saul looked at her in surprise, temporarily overwhelmed by the change of atmosphere.  
"You are an absolutely pathetic and hopeless scaredy-cat."

He looked at her slightly hurt and pulled his hand out of hers as if she had burned his.  
Farah looked at him in surprise and then laughed softly before continuing to calm Saul down.

"You choose the only moment when I can't answer, to confess your love to me after more than 20 years?" She said playing annoyed and pissed off.

Saul's head shot up and his face turned a relatively unhealthy red colour. "Y-you heard that ?!"

She laughed softly, and pulled him closer to her by his wrist. He looked uncertainly into her eyes.  
Then he felt how she put a hand on his chest exactly at the level of his heart and briefly closed her eyes.  
When she opened her eyes again, they glowed light blue. Saul felt a great wave of affection, no, no affection, deep love wash over himself. His gaze wandered to Farah, whose brown eyes looked at him lovingly.

He ran his hand over her face in a similar loving way. Farah closed her eyes with relish and leaned into Saul's touch. He couldn't help but shine. He leaned forward slowly and gave her a short, shy kiss as she returned.

"Please don't ever frighten me like that again." He whispered softly and ran his thumb down her cheek.

Farah's eyes opened and she sighed softly.  
"You know I can't promise you that right now."

Saul looked hurt but also nodded. "Yes I know."

Farah moved a little away from him, a look of longing in her eyes.  
"Rosalind would use it against us-" she began and was interrupted by Saul. "It's better that way, I understand."

He smiled coolly and turned to face the fire that had grown ominously small. He carefully poked the flames with a branch. He felt a bitterness that slowly turned into a burning anger towards Rosalind. He tried to calm himself down quickly and let his eyes wander briefly to the fairy, who for him represented the haven of calm in this mess.  
"Go to sleep. You still have to regain your strength. Ben needs your huge brain tomorrow to come up with a good plan. While the nerds are among themselves, I can then take a nap." He tried teasing to create a better mood again.

A smile crept onto his face as he felt a light boxer in his side. His blue eyes, in which there was a kind of sadness, looked at her.

"Be careful what you say! I remind you how many times the nerd has put you on the ground on the training ground. Besides, I can't leave you here alone." She mumbled softly.

Saul sighed barely audible. Then he said, laughing softly  
"Always these groupies, but I don't give autographs on the cleavage!" while he spread the blanket on which Ben sat before and then patting his hand on his lap.

Farah shook her head with a slight smile and couldn't help grinning. Then she lay down on the blanket and put her head in his lap.  
"We'll get it all right somehow." She said, staring into the fire.

He knew that she was not only talking about the school and felt the longing rise again, for Farah on the one hand, but also for Sky on the other.

"I hope so. It will be difficult. Rosalind has the pawns in her hand."

Farah seemed to understand.  
"You were more of a father to him than Andreas had ever been."

Saul smiled guiltily.  
"Andreas wasn't there. I had kil-"

"No. You haven't. Injured? Yes, maybe. But not killed. If he had wanted-"

"Maybe." Saul interrupted her, swallowing hard. He still had to convince himself of this truth inwardly.

He felt Farah pull his arm around her and put his hand in hers. She gently stroked his fingers. Saul let this happen and looked lost in thought into the fire. He dreaded seeing Sky again. He had disappointed him deeply. Then he felt Farah's hands stop moving and looked at her. She was breathing shallowly and seemed to have drifted off into sleep.

"Sleep well Farah." Saul mumbled softly and stroked her hair.  
He saw how another smile crept onto her lips and she snuggled closer to him.

A few hours later, Saul noticed movement in the corner where everyone else had slept. Briefly he looked worriedly at Farah, who was still sleeping soundly close to him. He sighed in defeat. He couldn't bring himself to wake her now, to keep up appearances. Then he relaxed a little again when he saw that only Ben seemed to have woken up and joined them.

Ben looked at his two best friends with half a grin.  
"So did you speak yesterday?" He whispered so as not to wake the others.

Saul sighed softly and looked at Farah.  
"I'm honestly not sure."  
Then he carefully ran a hand through the fairy's tangled hair.  
"Somehow yes, but somehow we've made it more complicated, I'm afraid."

Ben looked at Saul questioningly and worriedly.

"It's better to leave it as it was for now." Saul muttered sadly and looked from Farah to Ben.

He was sure to see deep compassion in Ben's brown eyes. Then the botanist sighed, shrugged, and smiled encouragingly.  
"Another reason to end this nightmare."

Saul agreed with a "hmm" and looked lost in thought into the fire.

"Go to sleep while the others are still too. I'll take care of them, I promise." Ben replied and looked at Farah.

Saul sighed reluctantly, but then nodded when Ben began to give him a lecture about the fact that Saul was only useful when he was well rested.  
Carefully so as not to wake her, he lifted Farah slightly to move away under her head and bed her carefully on his blanket.

"Wake me up when I'm supposed to start, or when you've conjured something eadible up your sleeve." Saul said with a grin and disappeared into the corner where the fairies slept.

Ben looked thoughtfully at Farah, who was looking at him with brown eyes.  
"So you're awake?"

Farah sat up quietly and sighed. "Hmmm."

"How long already?" Ben asked with a slight smile on his face as he looked at Saul's sleeping form. The man fell asleep immediately, completely exhausted.

Farah seemed to understand his question and just rolled his eyes.  
"Spare me the fatherly speech."

He laughed softly. "As you like."

"I can feel how much it hurts him." She sighed softly and then shook her head as if trying to wish away the thought, "Do you have any idea how we're going to proceed?"

Ben shook his head.  
"Unfortunately no. The biggest unknown variable is Rosalind. We don't know what she is actually capable of, that she has hidden from us."

Farah nodded silently and pulled the covers tighter around her shoulders.  
"Unfortunately, that's not a question but a fact. Rosalind never played with open cards, even when we were on her side. Then she won't do it now either."

Ben looked at Farah worried.  
"Something tells me you know something we don't."

Farah sighed softly. Her gaze wandered to the sleeping silhouettes. Her eyes glowed briefly then she looked at Ben.  
"Rosalind told me before she attacked that Bloom had Dragon Fire within her. I am concerned that she will try to use Bloom's mighty powers against us."

Ben thoughtfully raised his hand to his chin and stroked the light stubble that had appeared on it the last days.

"And you obviously decided not to tell her? Farah, you saw what your will to protect her from herself and everyone else at all costs ultimately triggered."

Farah looked guiltily at Ben.  
"Yes, and it still breaks my heart that she feels guilty of the whole thing. But I have to correct you. Rosalind has long since told Bloom what kind of strength she has."

Ben looked at Farah with a mixture of worry and surprise.  
"Of course Rosalind didn't do that without ulterior motives?" he asked.

Farah shook her head.  
"Of course not. Unfortunately, apart from the desire to test Bloom's strength with the burned ones as a trigger, I couldn't think of no meaningful reason why she talked to Bloom about it."

Ben shook his head.  
"That makes no sense. She is putting herself in danger. At least she accepts that Bloom will become aware that she could use these powers against her."

Farah sighed softly.  
"That is exactly the point. It must have more advantages than disadvantages for her in order to voluntarily take such a position."

Ben looked up from the fire when he heard Farah rise and walk towards one of the filthy windows. Slowly a dim light penetrated and announced a new day.

Also, as quietly as possible, he got up and walked over to her. Carefully he put a hand on Farah's shoulder.  
"You have an idea what she could do with it, right?"

Farah sighed softly and stared out the half-blind window.  
"Let's assume that Bloom isn't the guardian of this dragon flame through some black magic processes, Ben."

"Then she inherited it from a parent." Added Ben.

Farah nodded and turned to him.  
"Yeah, right. And for the past few weeks Bloom has had nothing else in mind than finding her parents."

Ben looked questioningly at Farah.  
"With that information, Rosalind may have tried to continue, or even more, encourage Bloom to look for her parents."

Ben shrugged.  
"I don't see the problem behind this. How should Rosalind benefit from Bloom finding her parents?"

Farah shrugged.  
"I wish I knew. But here we are again in an area that Rosalind apparently keeps to herself. And that worries me almost more than knowing it. Apart from the fact that Bloom made mistakes driven by this wish I can't think of any good reason why Rosalind would benefit from it. "  
She looked thoughtfully at her peacefully sleeping students.

"You think about it all the time, if you've met her before?" Ben asked, looking at Farah who was deep in her thoughts.

She sighed, tossed her hands in the air, walked back to the fire, and dropped onto a blanket, burying her face in her hands.

"Ben, think about it. It's likely that Bloom's parents were with us in Alfea. Maybe they were a few years older or younger ... But how can we have missed the fact that a classmate walked through school pregnant? Or that one of the fairies controls a dragon flame. "

Ben shook his head.  
"That's a good question. Maybe they weren't in Alfea. You mustn't forget that not everyone was happy with Rosalind's school policy. Some parents kept their children at home and preferred to teach themselves."

Farah looked at Ben, laughed cheerlessly and frowned.  
"In principle possible, many royal families preferred that, not too incomprehensible with Rosalind. But think about it, Ben, where should Rosalind then have gotten the opportunity to get to the child? If it had been a monarch, the protection would have been much too high to get to the child away unnoticed. "

Ben looked thoughtfully into the flames.  
"We're still talking about Rosalind ... but apart from that, we think too narrow-minded. Inheritance of magic is not like normal biological inheritance. In Bloom's case, it would have been enough for one parent to inherit the power. The parent can have the genes but do not show strength for it, as his second parent can still pass on their own magic."

Farah sighed.  
"Wonderful. Generation skip. I didn't thought about that. That makes the possible group of people even bigger. We don't just have to include fire fairies, but everyone who at some point had a fire fairy in the family."

Ben looked at Farah and smiled tiredly.  
"Well, a fire fairy who can control the dragon flame!"

Farah replied with a sarcastic snort.  
"Since that type of magic was so incredibly well controlled and recorded, since we are only talking about ancient magic, it is certainly a piece of cake."  
Then she shook her head.  
"I don't think we're going to get any smarter anytime soon. In any case, we have to protect Bloom from Rosalind."

Ben nodded and gave her an encouraging smile.  
"We'll manage somehow. She trusts you."

Farah looked at Ben with a smile.  
"I hope so. Even if I have my doubts." She couldn't help thinking of how the young fire fairy had asked permission to hug her and felt a pang.

Ben looked at the window through which the first rays of sunlight beamed.  
"Time to serve some food and wake up the others. We have to make a plan how we can win Alfea back."

After Ben and Terra had grown some fruit plants and the rest of the group had prepared them, the group sat around the fire. 

While most of them ate in silence, Terra began to babble happily.  
"So the wound has healed better now?" She asked, turning to Silva, who had stared quietly and listlessly at his food and was thinking about the fairy who was sitting across from him and who seemed to be stuck in her own thoughts.

He looked up with a friendly smile and nodded.  
"As I said, your healing abilities will soon be in no way inferior to your father's."

Terra beamed happily at him.  
"She learned from the best." Sam said with a laugh and patted his father on the shoulder.  
Ben looked at Terra with pride.  
The quiet now finally overcome, the others also began quiet conversations.

Bloom looked thoughtfully at her potatoes and then at Ms. Dowling who was sitting motionless next to her.  
"Do you have some time for me later?" Bloom asked softly so that no one but Farah had heard.

Farah, who hadn't expected to be spoken to, looked up from her meal and at Bloom. Worry spreads across her face.

Bloom forced a smile.  
"Of course." Farah replied encouragingly.

"We should begin to come up with a sensible plan for how we can sneak into Alfea and free the other fairies and specialists. Once we get there, we're definitely better positioned." Saul suddenly declared aloud to the group.  
That apparently ended breakfast.


	11. Do They Fear Me?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here wo go with number two for today. Enjoy!

Musa looked at him and then calmly explained:  
"That's right. Most of the emotions I could perceive were directed towards Rosalind."

Stella nodded slightly.  
"All that remains is my mother's entire army, a crazy specialist who rose from the dead, my crazy mother and, last but not least, obviously the spawn of Hell himself." She said slightly dryly.

Farah, who was drinking at that moment, choked and coughed loudly. Everyone looked at the headmistress in surprise.  
"Forgive me." She mumbled softly with a slight grin on her lips, "But a matching summary."

Saul caught himself staring at Farah affectionately and called himself to order.

"Apart from Beatrix, Sky, Riven, Dane and those who they got on their side." Completed Terra with a sad expression.

Saul's gaze wandered to the floor at the mention of his foster son.

"We still have to clarify that. Stella told me yesterday that Riven tried to warn her." Ben said encouragingly, adding, "maybe they're just being pressured."

Saul looked at Ben gratefully. Then he got up and took a branch from the pile they had collected yesterday and began to scratch a rough map of the area in the ground.

Farah gently touched Bloom on the shoulder as the others began to examine the map and add corridors, rooms and the like. She motioned for Bloom to follow her. They both walked to the entrance of the shed. Farah turned around before following Bloom out and saw Saul give her a concerned look while Ben explained something about the map.  
She gave him a trusting smile and disappeared through the door.

When Farah stepped into the small clearing where the shed was located, she saw Bloom sitting on a fallen tree trunk and staring absently into the void.

"Is everything ok?" Farah asked quietly and sat down on the trunk next to Bloom.

Bloom looked at her with tears in her eyes, shook hee head and then fell into Farah's arms and clasped the older fairy as if her life depended on it. She sobbed loudly.

Farah looked worriedly at the fairy's red hair and put her arms around Bloom. She rubbed her hands over Bloom's back soothingly.

"It's all my fault. I should never have trusted her. I put so many people in danger. Sky is no longer the Sky I met." It gushed out of Bloom.  
"And I don't seem to have anything really under control." Bloom muttered softly, looking at her hands with disgust.

Farah furrowed her eyebrows and looked at Bloom in amazement.  
"If I remember, yesterday you were very successful in rescuing Mr. Silva and using your strength. You have to stop blaming yourself for it. Rosalind has perfected how to deceive people and put them under her spell."

Then she pushed Bloom away a little to look the young fairy in the eye.  
"I was the one who made the mistake of not playing with open cards. And thereby driving you to find out the truth for yourself."

Then she smiled at Bloom and carefully wiped Bloom's tears from her cheeks with the sleeve of her coat.

Bloom sniffed loudly and looked at the headmistress.  
"I almost couldn't do it. Conjuring the flames. And when they came I had no control over them."

Farah looked at Bloom in concern.  
"I feared that. One shortcoming of Rosalind's teaching is that she wastes little patience in trying to teach people out in control. An uncontrolled flame is initially stronger than a poorly controlled one."

Bloom looked at her hands with wide eyes.  
"Why can't I just be normal ?! A normal fire fairy. No special power. Just Bloom." She mumbled softly.

Farah sighed softly.  
"Unfortunately, I cannot fulfil this wish. I can only offer you to continue to help you to gain control over your powers. Provided that you still trust me enough."

Bloom closed her eyes and smiled.  
"I trust you." Then she wrapped her arms around Farah again and buried her face in the older fairy's shoulder.  
"I don't know anyone I would trust next to the girls than you at the moment." She mumbled.

Farah's eyes glowed light blue, and she felt a wave of affection roll over her from Bloom.  
A smile crept onto the Mental Fairy's face.  
"I'll take care of you, I promise." Farah muttered.

"Farah?"  
The Mental Fairy looked up to see Saul standing in the doorway, a worried expression on his face.  
"Is everything ok?"

Farah looked at Bloom who was still in her arms and slowly calmed down.  
"We'll be right there." She explained with a smile on her face that made Saul's heart beating faster.

'Damn it' thought the specialist helplessly, now that he knew what he was missing from the situation, it was a thousand times harder not to run after Farah like a crushed idiot. He nodded, continued to look at both fairies with a concerned expression, and disappeared again.

Bloom looked up, after Saul.  
"Thank you." She mumbled softly. "I think Mr. Silva is worried enough about Sky." She looked at the floor. Obviously upset that Sky had apparently chosen Rosalind's side.

Farah sighed softly and also stared at the spot where Saul had just been standing.  
"Yeah, probably." Then she put a finger under Bloom's chin and let her look up.  
"But believe me one thing, Bloom, for whatever reason he's not with us right now, but in Alfea, he's not doing it to hurt you or Saul. Whatever he does, he does it in the belief that he's doing the right thing. "

Bloom looked uncertainly at Farah.  
"I already know him a little, believe me, he would never want to hurt you." Farah explained with a smile and thought of the little, blond-haired boy who was incredibly empathic even back then and who had always stumbled after Saul and viewed the specialist as a hero.

"Now we should help the others to come up with a good plan, I mean to remember that you know secret passages that were completely unknown to me."

Bloom smiled slightly and nodded.  
Then she slid off the trunk and looked at the ground.  
"Are the others afraid of me?" She mumbled softly.

Farah looked at Bloom in surprise. She looked up uncertainly at the headmistress and blushed.  
"Well I thought you could look like Musa? I don't want to scare anyone."

Farah gave the fairy a caring smile.  
"I don't look into other people's emotions without being asked or without good reason. But I'm also quite sure that the girls trust you and are not afraid of you."

Bloom sighed softly, nodded and made her way to the shed with a forced smile. Farah felt a surge of concern.


	12. Control The Feelings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is the last one before we travel into the past for a few chapters. Have fun!

"I hope the plan works." Terra mumbled softly and looked worriedly at her hands while Stella and Musa walked beside her.

"We can't hide forever. The others need us." Stella explained with an encouraging smile.

Musa hummed in agreement but kept her eye on Bloom. The fire fairy had walked quietly next to Aisha the whole march and had hardly said a word, while Aisha chatted happily to her in an attempt to keep the fairy away from negative thoughts.

She had to admit that the emotional chaos around her slowly knocked her out more and more. Then her gaze wandered to Sam who was walking next to Ben and was talking to him quietly about the floor plans. She smiled and enjoyed the calm he radiated for her. She took a deep breath in and out.

Stella noticed this and looked at Musa pityingly.  
"Hey, maybe you should ask Ms. Dowling if she has any advice on how to block us all out? She really was able to help me. And you share the same talent, so I'm sure she will be able to help you even better. You can't take all of us in, if even we ourselves don't get along with our feelings." Her eyes wandered over to Bloom.

Musa looked uncertainly from Stella to Ms. Dowling who walked a few meters ahead with Mr. Silva and searched the forest for dangers.

Musa sighed softly and shrugged.  
"All right. If we take a break later, I'll ask her."

Stella smiled complacent and they walked on.

"Does the way back seem longer than the way we've taken to flee dad?" Sam asked, looking thoughtfully into the distance.

"Yes, I've also got that impression."  
Ben looked worriedly at Farah, who was still not at full strength and weakened with the constant maintenance of a camouflage around them all and the search of the forest.

"I think it's time for a break, Saul!" Ben called to the two headmasters at the top.

Saul turns with an irritated expression on his face and shrugged.  
They hid under a fallen tree trunk and sat in the leaves on the ground.

"Farah, did you feel it too?" Ben asked, turning to the mental fairy who, with trembling hands, took the water that Saul gave her.  
She nodded and looked thoughtfully into her mug.  
"The school is in a fog and the way seems to have become longer."

Ben nodded and looked worriedly at his best friend who was obviously very weakened.

Saul dropped into the leaves beside her.  
"Excuse my foolish ignorance, but may any of you tell me what you are talking about?"

Farah gave him a tired smile.  
"Rosalind has put a spell on the school that makes it undetectable to anyone who she doesn't want in school."

Saul looked at Ben in surprise.  
"That can't be. When I broke out of prison, I was able to get to the school."

"Actio reactio." Farah mumbled softly and leaned exhausted against Saul, who looked at her confused.

Ben smiled slightly.  
"Rosalind reacts to mistakes and eradicate them  
immediately. You came to school? Rosalind casts an undetectable spell around the school. Action and reaction."

Saul shrugged. "My mistake. I always slept in Latin."

"We know that. You always copied our homework." Farah answered with a slight smile.

The other fairies laughed softly.

"So what do we do about it?" Stella asked, slightly irritated, how relaxed the three former students of Rosalind were about this fact.

"Keep walking." Ben said calmly.

"But-" began Bloom.

"Farah's magic is tied to the school. As the headmistress, she can see through the magic. The path will take more time, but we will get there."

Bloom looked impressed at the mental fairy who had meanwhile straightened up and looked at Ben relaxed.

"How is it that Rosalind doesn't feel that? You know this link, then?" Bloom then asked, concerned.

Saul grinned slightly.  
"Rosalind is too arrogant to really relate to the fact that Farah survived."

Sam frowned at Saul.  
"Yes, well, but she must feel that her magical bond with the school is being disrupted."

Farah shook his head.  
"That's very old magic. As firm as Rosalind may be in this, she doesn't notice everything. Especially because I'm trying to act under her radar."

Sam nodded impressed. "Such as I walked through walls to get away from different people I didn't want to meet."

Ben looked at Sam with a smile. "And yet I ask myself if I should feel offended, when not seeing you for two days in a row." Sam laughed a little.  
"Nope, that's because I don't always want to help with the botany."

"I think a short break is good for all of us. We'll move on in an hour." Saul explained with a small grin on his lips.

The others nodded and spread out a little.

Stella rammed her elbow into Musa's side when she wanted to walk away and nodded to Dowling who was still sitting in the same place, still looking relatively tired, staring thoughtfully into nothing.

"Um, Ms. Dowling, can I disturb you for a minute?"

Farah looked at Musa in surprise and smiled tiredly. "How can I help you?"

Musa looked a little uncertainly at her teacher.  
"So, I, uh, -"

Farah laughed softly.  
"Stop the stammering, we both know something is up."

Musa smiled slightly.  
"Could you help me block the others? I know that sounds incredibly cold, but I urgently need a break and only with Sam-"

"Are you in a quiet place." Farah finished the sentence and nodded. "I understand your problem. And I don't think it's cold-hearted, don't worry."

Musa relaxed a little and sat down next to the other Mental Fairy.  
"Sam is my rest in the chaos." Musa explained softly and smiled broadly. Farah smiled too.

"Yes, Mental Fairies tend to describe their soulmate like that."

Musa looked at Farah in amazement. She noticed how Musa was trying to draw conclusions from her.

"You wanted to learn how to get the feelings of others out of your mind if necessary, right?" She asked quietly to keep Musa out of her emotional world. It was enough if Farah had to deal with it herself. No reason to burden the young fairy with it.

Musa nodded silently.

Farah sighed softly.  
"You have chosen a rather difficult time and environment for it. With people who mean a great deal to you and have strong feelings, it is harder to block them out. The feelings tend to force themselves on you. Even after years I sometimes have problems blocking all of them successfully when they come without any warning."

Musa nodded and didn't notice how Farah's eyes wandered first to Bloom and then to Saul.

Then Musa frowned.  
"But then how can it be that I am not so aware of Sam's feelings even though I love him-"

"Soulmates tend to subconsciously shield themselves from the fairy. In this case you would even need training to notice them."

Musa looked at Farah in amazement.  
"This works out?"

Farah laughed softly.  
"I'm very sure of that. But see it as Pandora's box. Think carefully if you ever want to open it. It will be much harder to close it if needed than others."

"Because he is so important to me." Farah nodded slightly.  
Musa looked at Sam briefly and then smiled broadly. "I think I could manage that."

The older Mental Fairy looked at Saul again. She hadn't had the chance to decide back then. Through Rosalind's training she had lost control of her own abilities so much that the threshold separating Musa from Sam had almost no longer existed with her and Saul when she met him.

"I managed to take his pain away, so I was connected to his mind before." Musa declared proudly. Farah nodded.

"You have your powers under better control than you are probably aware of yourself."

Musa looked surprised at the mental fairy who was smiling at her.  
"I'll help you a little with the trappings, but I'm sure you will be able to shield yourself on your own."

Musa beamed happily at the teacher.  
Farah took the fairy's hands and closed her eyes.  
Musa followed her and felt her breath hitch when she looked around and stood with Farah in the clearing where everyone else was.  
She saw herself and Ms. Dowling sitting by the log.  
"Wow" she mumbled softly and looked around.

"I'm trying to visualize something. That makes it easier, I think." Explained Farah and watched as Musa ran to Sam who looked at the plan of the school with his father and Saul, and discussed it.

All people were surrounded by a kind of colourful fog, which is composed of different colours or changes colours.

"Are these-"

"The feelings of people visualized as we perceive them together."

Musa looked at Sam and noticed how less fog emanated from him than from the others.

"What you see is what I perceive of him." Farah explained. Musa gently touched the mist and felt a wave of guilt, worry and exhaustion.

"Ouch. Not nice emotions." Musa mumbled softly and looked worriedly at Sam.  
Farah smiled slightly as the mist turned blood-red while Sam looked at Musa who was sitting at the tree trunk.

Musa blushed slightly.  
"The matter of calm in chaos is two-sided." Farah mumbled softly. "Not only do you find peace with him, he finds it with you too. The connection isn't only a one-way route."

Musa beamed at her and looked at the fog of the others.  
She noticed how the fog around Saul also showed red streaks.  
Her gaze shifted to Farah.

"The Pandora's box-thing wasn't a field report by any chance?" Farah's gaze wandered from Sam to Musa. Musa chewed her lip a little, worried that she overstepped.  
"I know it's none of my business, but his feelings were literally yelling at me." She explained, slightly uncertain.

Farah smiled tiredly.  
"My Pandora's box was forcibly opened by another person than myself." She smiled a little sadly and longingly. "But I can handle it. We should concentrate on your problem."

Musa nodded and looked around.  
"So how do I keep the fog from getting into my head?"

Farah looked at Musa and pulled her to their two quietly sitting figures on the tree trunk.  
A kind of bubble surrounded both of them.  
"This is your protective shield. You have to learn to direct your energy into this bubble, and it will become more impervious to the feelings of others."

Musa looked at her in amazement.  
"How am I supposed to do that?"

"You have to become more aware of your own flow of energy in the body and control it more actively."  
Musa took a deep breath and then closed her eyes.

"It's best to start at heart level and watch the energy as it travels through your body."  
Musa did as she was told and felt a slight tingling sensation that wandered through her body.

She opened her eyes to see Ms. Dowling. They were sitting on the tree trunk again.  
Then Musa noticed. Silence. The chaos of the others' feelings that had pounded on her was replaced by calm and a slight pleasant tingling sensation that wandered through her body.

"Wow," Musa muttered softly. "It's so silent."

Farah smiled proudly at her. "Like I said before. You just needed a little guidance."

Musa beamed at her and pulled the fairy into a tight hug.  
"Thank you. Really." She mumbled softly with tears in her eyes. "I don't even know when I was alone in my head for the last time without music on." Then she let go of the fairy and beamed.

Only now did Musa see how much more tired the fairy looked and felt a wave of exhaustion roll over her, which definitely came from the teacher.

"You need to rest! I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked now of all times."

Farah smiled and shook her head.  
"No, it's okay. You needed a break much more urgently than I did." Farah explained.

"Is everything ok?" Musa heard Mr. Silva asking both of them.

Musa nodded. "Yes I think so." Lied Musa and looked at Farah.

Farah smiled gratefully at Musa.  
"We exchanged a few tricks among mental fairies." Farah explained with a smile.

"You have to rest!" Saul muttered reproachfully.

"Hmm." Farah mumbled approvingly and slid over to the specialist at whose side she leaned and closed her eyes.

Musa smiled slightly. She felt how Mr. Silva immediately radiated a calm.  
He smiled at Farah and turned slightly to make the Mental Fairy more comfortable.

  
Musa walked away as silently as possible and in the direction in which she noticed Stella and Bloom.  
Saul looked after her and grinned slightly.  
"She reminds me a little of you when we first met. You were less melancholy, but much more mysterious."

Farah smiled with closed eyes. "Seems to haunt me till today, the mysteriousness."

Saul laughed softly. "I prefer your humour to guilt, definitely."  
Farah continued to smile and moved closer to Saul.

"I remember the day I met you like it was yesterday." Saul explained.

"Is that so?" Farah asked, looking at Saul.

"You saved my butt on the day that Rosalind would otherwise have beaten me up even more than she would already have done." Saul explained with a laugh and thought back to the time when they were still students themselves.


	13. Visiting the Past I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's visit our dear friends in the past. Maybe there are little hints in the upcoming chapters to what could happen in the future ;).  
> Enjoy!

A few years ago:

Saul ran at a quick pace to the large flat area on which there were several platforms that gave space for regular training duels.  
Andreas had not woken him, and now he would be late to Rosalind's disgrace.  
Last year, Rosalind had been gracious with them at the beginning, in order to look out for those most suitable for the elite.  
Saul had thought then that he was lucky to be part of it. The close circle around Rosalind. 

Saul was now looking at the whole thing more soberly.  
Having arrived in the second year of his training two weeks ago, he had found that one had to get on well with Rosalind in order not to suffer more than everyone else in Rosalind's elite.  
Another flaw. Back then he thought he was special. Now he had found out that Rosalind's elite included several students from all years and, accordingly, much more experienced specialists and fairies were much more important, which they were happy to prove to younger people.

Yes, fairies too. In the first year, fairies and specialists were trained strictly separated.  
Now the specialists would start training with the fairies. Exactly today. If he just wouldn't be late.  
Saul had to admit, though, that he was looking forward to it. In his first year he had met a few fairies who at times helped him with complicated potion attachments when Rosalind wasn't looking. Ben had become a close friend by now through that.

With almost running steps he reached the practice area. Some fairies and specialists were already fighting against each other in the fields. Others sat across from each other devising common strategies, and some others moved through a maze of simulations of the burned ones.

"Saul, there you are at last!" He heard from one of the platforms. Andreas smiled at him and waved slightly.

"Yes, why didn't you wake me up?" Saul called up to his roommate a little angrily.

The latter shrugged his shoulders as he dodged a tendril that struck him.  
"Thought you wanted to sleep a little longer to be fit after your night shift yesterday. Didn't know you were oversleeping."

Exactly at that moment the tendril wrapped itself around Andreas' legs and let him fall to the ground with a loud bang. Saul watched with satisfaction as Andreas grimaced in pain.

Then he heard a small laugh.  
"You should have focused more on me. You may only classify me as a 'flower boy', but the flowers can be painful." Ben explained with a laugh and winked at Saul as he dropped the tendrils and helped Andreas up.

Saul grinned broadly. Then he went to look for Rosalind.  
This stood at the labyrinth and seemed to speak quietly magic spells, while her glowing white eyes apparently observed what was happening in the labyrinth. Loud screams came from the labyrinth

"Mister Silva. Have you decided to attend the training after all?" She asked with cutting coldness. Her eyes turned blue again. The screaming in the maze subsided.

Then she looked at him with a cool smile and waited for his apology. Of course, he wouldn’t be able to lie, she would know anyways.  
"I overslept. The night shift patrol yesterday knocked me out more than I thought."

"Didn't I give you the day before that day off?" Rosalind asked interested.

"Um, yes." Saul stroked his hair, embarrassed. "The day before yesterday I had to finish the essay."

Rosalind shook her head and sighed.  
"You shouldn't put off your chores anytime soon, however uncomfortable they may be. I've paired them all up, so you'll have to train with Ms. Dowling accordingly." Rosalind pointed to a fairy who was sitting on a bench to the side and seemed absorbed in a book.  
"A somewhat unfair fight, but you have to put it down to yourself. You will run through the labyrinth on your own in a moment. If you** clink**, you have to fight your way alone through contaminated forests." She continued to explain emotionlessly and then called over to the fairy:  
"Farah! I have a partner for you, you'll have to work through the runes later. Thank your team member today."

The fairy looked up and Saul caught his breath.  
Caramel-blonde hair framed a narrow, petite face from which warm nut-brown eyes looked at him with interest. The fairy only nodded briefly, put the book down and walked over towards Saul.

"You can take the furthest platform. Give him a chance, a little exercise could be good for him to wake up."  
Both saw Rosalind's eyes turn white again and the screams in the maze became louder again.

Saul felt Farah make her way to the practice area beside him and followed her in silence.  
Skilled, she climbed onto the platform and held out her hand to help Saul up. He looked confused at the hand. Did the fairy really think he was in such worse shape than she was?

With his teeth clenched with displeasure, he hopped in a practised, fluid motion onto the fighting surface. The fairy dropped her hand with raised eyebrows and sighed softly.

"I wasn't about to hurt your pride, I just wanted to show a little sportsmanship. In the end, we have to learn to work together and not against each other."

Saul looked up in surprise and only saw the blue glow of his opponent's eyes for a moment before they returned to their normal nut-brown colour.  
She gave him a friendly smile.

"You really have to stand a little beside you if you willingly draw Rosalind's wrath on yourself."

Saul sighed a little.  
"Contrary to everyones expectations, you can oversleep without wanting to offend anyone."

Farah cocked her head.  
"I think she was rather angry that you talked to Andreas and Ben beforehand ..."

Saul looked at the fairy in surprise.  
"I thought you had to study runes." He replied with an evil grin.

A sly smile crept onto the fairy's face. Then her eyes glowed blue again and two practice combat sticks flew toward both of them. Saul caught his practiced and looked at Farah with interest.

"A mental fairy then? Interesting that Rosalind encourages you so much. Usually the fairies with strong fighting powers are more interesting for her."  
The corners of the fairy's mouth twitched slightly, then with a sweeping gesture she let the** staff** slide out of Saul's hands and with it swept away the specialist's legs.

Saul escaped a breath as he hit the ground.  
He heard a light, melodic laugh.  
"Yes, actually. I don't know why she's doing it either."

Saul straightened up and saw the blue eyes turning brown again and the fairy running up to him and holding out her hand with a amused expression on her face.

He looked at the hand, smiled, and let himself be helped up. He said with a mock pouting expression: "Not fair. I didn't know that you could attack like that."

Farah looked at him with a raised eyebrow.  
"Apart from the fact that you won't know your opponents in the future either, you knew more about me than I did about you."

Saul looked at Farah in surprise.  
"You know my name and my talent. I don't even know your name."

Saul grinned slightly. "Saul Silva"  
Farah cocked her head and frowned.  
"Hmm funny, I would have imagined you a little, I don't know, more heroic, more like Rosalind's dream fighter. Rosalind literally raved about your fighting power and the potential that you have."

Saul looked at Farah in surprise.  
"Rosalind talked about me?"

"Yes. She plans to put you in the expedition group, she also talked about Ben and Andreas."

"And you know how about it?"

"She has made it her goal to torture me until I reach the potential that she sees in me and often keeps me close as a private student."

Saul laughed softly, thinking Farah was joking.  
"Well, runes are really pretty boring. Fair enough, that's torture.." He replied sarcastically.  
Farah smiled slightly pained. 'If you only knew.'  
She thought slightly worried and looked at the labyrinth in which Rosalind tormented everyone with a lot of joy and through which she wanted to send Saul alone.

"Please take care of yourself." She mumbled softly and quickly when Rosalind came walking towards them both.

"I think the warm-up lap should have been enough, it's Silva's turn." Rosalind explained and nodded her head towards the labyrinth from which two specialists limped out and supporting a nearly passed out fairy.

Saul's eyes widened in shock.  
Suddenly he felt a wave of courage come over him.

"Farah, as good as you mean it, I think Mister Silva should try to find the courage alone to pass the placement test."

Saul turned around in surprise and saw how Farah's eyes turned brown again and the fairy looked innocently at Rosalind and shrugged her shoulders.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, I was a little hard on him, I thought it was fair to help him a little."

He smiled gratefully at her and reached for his sword that he had put down before training.

With a "Well then, let's go!" he ran towards the labyrinth. As he turned around again, he saw Rosalind smile at him with white eyes. Behind her, he saw Farah with worry lines on her forehead. He swallowed as the hedge magically closed behind him, and he had to start beating his way through the corridors on his own. The first opponents were light projections from Rosalind, which were apparently designed to test him in normal combat strength.

"So far so good." Saul muttered as he drew his sword from the final opponent and looked around.  
A loud growl caught his attention. A burnt one crept around the corner.  
With fluid quick movements he tried to hurt the figure on its tinder.  
With a swinging motion, the burned one drew back and hurled Saul through several hedges.

He lay still and breathed shallowly. This pain did not feel simulated at all ... He looked at his chest and saw how black lines slowly searched the way through his vessels on the cuts.  
He gasped softly.  
"Help." He stuttered and touched the wound.

"This is not real, a simulation." He heard a soft, melodic voice.  
"Concentrate. She wants to break you, you have to counter it. This is not real."

Saul's eyes widened. He knew the voice. A warm, comforting shiver ran down his arms when he thought of the fairy.  
He saw a puddle of water next to him and rolled over to it. In the background he heard the burned one that, driven by his lust for flesh, fell through the hedges. Gasping, he scooped a little water over his wounds.

A low cry of pain escaped him.

His gaze fell on the reflection in the amazingly calm surface of the water. His eyes were normal, clear, and blue. He looked over his chest. No scratch.

At that moment the burned one grabbed his shoulders again and hurled him through two more walls of the hedge.  
He hit the floor with a thud and gave a small moan. This time his shoulder joint had to catch his fall.  
With clenched teeth, he freed his little dagger from the chest strap. He ignored the pull in his shoulder.  
With Stoic indifference he lay there and waited for his attacker to hunt him down again.  
Less than a minute later the burned one was there again with quick movements and built himself up in front of him with spread claws.  
With a quick movement he rammed the blade into the place of the burned one where he suspected the tinder and watched as the figure slumped unconscious.

He heard Rosalind's voice.  
"Congratulations Mr. Silva, you did well."

The hedges thinned out a little, giving him the way he had to take to leave the labyrinth. He turned around again and saw a kind of root scarecrow frozen in the place where he had left the burned man.

The sharp pain in his shoulder reminded him what had really happened.  
"You would do well to see the nurse. The shoulder seems dislocated to me." Rosalind greeted him coolly.  
"You are free for the rest of the training." Then Rosalind turned to Farah who was still standing behind Rosalind without a word and radiating a restlessness that Rosalind was apparently not aware of.  
"Oh Farah, if you would be so good as going with Mr. Silva. I would ask you to go through the first-graders' tests for me. I am lagging behind with the placement tests."

Farah nodded, took the book from the bench and looked at Silva.  
"Come on, or do you need an extra invitation?" She said coolly to Saul and ran forward.

Saul looked startled at the fairy and shook his head. This person didn't have much in common with the lovely fairy he'd just met. He quietly followed her up the green plain in the direction of the building.

He saw Farah's eyes briefly glow blue and then turn brown again.  
"Okay, we're safe." She sighed in relief.

Saul looked at her confused.  
"We should take you to the nurse quickly. Your shoulder is turning blue and swollen." Her brown eyes roaming over said shoulder.

Saul looked at the neckline of his training t-shirt, which showed an obvious blue discoloration on the left shoulder that was slowly pulling over the collarbone. He felt how Farah's cool hands ran over the place and the pain eased slightly.

"Why all of a sudden so nice again?" Saul asked, slightly offended and sarcastic.

He saw Farah widen her eyes and pull him into the next abandoned room, in this case an old map room.  
"Shut up you idiot." She grumbled angrily before closing the door.  
"If Rosalind finds out that I helped you with the test, we'll both have a huge problem."

"You have helped me?"

She sighed softly. "Don't tell me you heard my voice ans thought about it as a normal hallucination."

Saul laughed nervously. "Actually yes. You made a lasting impression on me."

Farah shook her head with a smile.  
"The voice and the puddle were helpful in making you realize that you are not poisoned."

Saul's eyes widened. "But how?"

"I've been practiseing kind of a little water magic."

"Why did you help me?"

Farah gave him a wry smile. "You still owe me a good duel."

Saul laughed softly. "Now we'd better take you to the nurse first."

Saul followed her with a big grin on his face.  
"Tell me, do you think I passed the test?"

Farah shrugged.  
"I think so. You would have sacrificed your own life to save the others."

Saul smiled proudly.  
With a few spells and Zhanbaq Saul had been patched up enough for the nurse to leave the infirmary.


	14. Visiting the past II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't forgotten you, I just had a really bad day. Everthing that could have go downhill did go downhill.... Hope you enjoy the new chapter anyways... For me it was a very welcome distraction from everything going wrong...  
> Enjoy!
> 
> PS: if someone wondered: yes the psycho-Rosalind has to be like that for the future story! :D

On the way to the specialist wing, he met Ben who was carrying something that looked like a hideous cactus.  
"What the hell?"

"Wonderful, isn't it? A really nice specimen!" Beamed Ben. Saul, shaking his head, ran alongside the earth fairy and examined the plant with interest.

"Tell me, Ben, how well do you know the girls in your wing?"

Ben looked up in surprise.  
"A little for sure, we have lessons together after all. Why?"

Saul sighed softly and nervously.  
"That stays between us, okay? Not a word, not even to Andreas!"

Ben nodded responsibly.

"There's this mental fairy with caramel-brown hair and really pretty brown eyes-"

Ben grinned broadly.  
"Of course, Saul Silva has to fall in love with Rosalind's half foster daughter."

"Rosalind's what?" Saul asked in astonishment.

"Foster daughter. Rosalind took her from an underground ruin on a planet she had examined. She was probably still a toddler then. Suffered from memory loss from the fall and the shock. A few days later, the sister and parents were found dead in the ruins. They weren't so lucky. Rosalind then took care of her. "

Saul's eyes widened. "Woah, I didn't expect that."

Ben looked guiltily at his cactus.  
"Yes, um. Can you keep that to yourself from her too? Actually, I shouldn't-"

"All right." Saul interrupted him with a smile.  
"Thank you for your trust."

Ben beamed at him.  
"She's really nice. Hard to believe when you consider that the woman who practically enslaved us today raised her at times." Then Ben smiled mischievously  
"She's really great at helping others without Rosalind noticing. She's really talented and very intelligent. In fact, she managed to use earth magic the other day and water magic hasn't been too much of a problem for her since last year."

Saul looked at Ben in amazement.  
"Seems to be quite a high-achiver."

Ben nodded.  
"Yes, she manages to influence the other elements through her mental main-magic. However, she does not reveal how exactly she learned this."

"Well, have fun with your cactus, I have to go to the library to get some books for potions." Saul apologized and turned around.  
He quietly crept past the headmistress’s office and tried to catch a glimpse through the crack.

"Are you looking for something special?" Asked the now so familiar voice.

Saul turned around in a flash and saw Farah standing there with a pile of papers, apparently test, in her arm.

"Um, I was looking for you, I have to admit."

Farah raised her eyebrows in surprise.  
"In the headmaster's office? That would have got us into more trouble."  
Saul sighed softly. What was the fairy so afraid of?  
"I thought you were there looking through tests."

She smiled. "Wait here a moment, will you?"

Then she walked past him into the office and came out again without the pile of papers.

Saul was surprised at how quickly she'd been able to take the tests to Rosalind.

Farah smiled slyly.  
"She's not there yet. Still tormenting the people in the labyrinth."

"Do you actually keep reading everyone around you all the time?" He laughed softly when he saw Farah look at him in surprise and get slightly red ears.

"The tormenting wasn't meant sarcastically?" He asked to change the topic.

She shook her head.  
"Unfortunately no. She means well, wants to bring us to our absolute best. Unfortunately, she is rarely empathetic and her methods are a little, well let's call it, questionable. But another topic, how can I help you?"

Saul was surprised at how much Farah avoided Rosalind as a subject.  
"We're planning a little party in the abandoned part of the school. Maybe you want to come over?"

Farah looked at Saul in surprise. "We?"

"Andreas and I. So actually I had the idea, but Andreas is more enthusiastic than I am now." He explained with a laugh and nervously ran a hand through his short dark brown hair.

Farah noticed this and couldn't help but feel a tingling sensation in her stomach area. She had noticed that the specialist tended to make this gesture when he felt unsure.  
"You're asking me of all people? I'm really not the fairy known for her party excesses."

Saul laughed out loud.  
"Well, there haven't been too many parties here so far."

Then he looked deep into her brown eyes, which shimmered in cognac colours in the light of the setting sun.  
"I would be really happy if you came. Saturday, around 8 in the abandoned wing." He smiled broadly, tucked a strand behind Farah's ear and walked quickly in the direction of the specialist wing without turning around again or even waiting for an answer from her.

Farah looked after him in awe. Then she shook her head with a smile and disappeared in the direction of her room.  
Completely lost in thought, she ran into the suite and was expected by Lisa and Merill.  
Lisa was a water fairy that Farah had befriended during the first year during the additional exercises.  
"Rosalind is looking for you, she wants to start early with your training today. She looked a little bad-tempered." She explained to Farah with a concerned expression.

"Hm?" Farah asked impassively, her thoughts still lingering on the meeting.

Merill sighed softly.  
"Earth to Farah, Rosalind is really pissed. You should go to her, she looked pretty unhappy."

Farah looked at Merill in surprise. By now the information had got through to her.  
"Do you know why?"

Merill shook her head while Lisa nodded.  
Farah looked back and forth between the two fairies in surprise.  
"Some fire fairies burned away half of the labyrinth out of panic. Rosalind had to grow the labyrinth with ten earth fairies before she could continue with the tests." Lisa explained.

Merill shrugged.  
"I think it was just a drop in the bucket. Something made her angry before."

Farah sighed softly.  
"All right, I'll go then. See you tomorrow." Farah muttered and turned towards the door.

"Farah! You also need some sleep. You can't always let her use you as a punching ball in your extra training at night when she's in a bad mood that she has to let off." Lisa cried worriedly.

Farah turned and smiled widely.  
"Oh nonsense, everything's fine! I'll take a step back if it gets too much."

Lisa and Merill exchanged worried looks.  
"Take care of yourself." Merill mumbled softly.

Farah gave her a brilliant smile. "Rosalind would never intentionally harm me. Everything is fine." The air fairy looked worriedly at Farah and sighed. "If you say that..."

Andreas sat bored on his bed and let a ball hit the wall, which he caught again and again.

"Are you ready soon? The party is in two days, and we really still have a lot to plan!"

Saul looked up from his work in annoyance.  
"Have you ever written a page-long potion essay with a dislocated shoulder while an idiot is playing table tennis with himself?" He hissed with an evil glint in his eyes.

Andreas rolled his eyes.  
"Is there someone thin-skinned because they were beaten up by a girl?"

Saul felt the anger gnaw his bowels.  
"If you idiot hadn't let me sleep any longer, I wouldn't have come too late, and I wouldn't have had to go into the labyrinth alone, where Rosalind wanted to kill me. And no." Saul had got up from his place at the desk and walked towards Andreas with clenched fists.

Andreas looked at Saul in surprise and raised his hands in shock.  
"Hey, I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to make you late."

Then he looked at Saul's shoulder, confused.  
"The shoulder does not come from a duel, but from the test?"

Saul cooled down a little. He took a deep breath in and out.  
"Yes, Rosalind chased me with a burnt one across the labyrinth." Then he looked guiltily at his best friend. "I'm sorry. That was just a bit much today."

Andreas smiled slightly.  
"All good. I should have just woken you up. Where are you hanging there? If you rewrite it, you can put the rest of my essay in with it."

Saul smiled slightly at him.  
"That has nothing to do with the fact that you want to start planning for the party soon?"

Andreas laughed and tossed the ball to Saul.  
"Touché" while Saul caught the ball, Andreas frowned.

"To be honest, I'm a little worried. Rosalind took everyone hard, but she didn't cause any serious damage to anyone."

Saul shrugged his good shoulder.  
"Who knows, maybe she was really upset that I was late."

Andreas, who was rummaging around for his homework, looked up thoughtfully.  
"Maybe, Ben and I got through really well. We were lucky, she tried to cover us with a deception spell and hunted tendril figures that looked like burned ones in the illusion. Doesn't work with an earth fairy. Rosa is good with earth-magic, but just not as good as Ben is."

Saul smiled slightly at the use of the nickname that had become common when the fairy wasn't around.

"How did you manage it? You were in there alone, weren't you?" Asked Andreas, confused.

"Hmm, yes, I was lucky that there was still a puddle from the day before when it rained so bad. It gave me the courage to wait and attack the beast from the victim position, because I had seen my unharmed reflection in it."

"I call that luck. So tell me, what kind of alcohol do we get? We want to have a little fun. Today, Ben tried to invite some pretty girls from his wing."

Saul couldn't help but grin when he thought of Ben proudly waving his cactus towards the clique of light fairies around Luna and trying to convince them to come to the party.  
"You mean hiring Ben to do this was a good idea?"

Andreas shrugged his shoulders.  
"I think so. He's got his eye on a pretty earth fairy. I actually think he's going to try to be less weird for a few minutes."

Saul tossed Andreas a pad and pen.  
"Write down what we should get. Mike and I have to go shopping in Asterdell later anyway. Rosalind ordered us to do it a few days ago."

Andreas happily began to put all kinds of things on the list.  
Saul wallowed in his thoughts. It was amazing how quickly Ben had gained respect from Andreas. Andreas tended to put people like Ben down, but Ben had climbed up Andreas cool-friends-ladder through some **potion-aids** and especially through training together. As much as Saul liked him as a friend, this trait bothered him about the future King Eraklyons. Always striving for power, treating everyone like a soldier that works for him. Saul had a special position there and was really the only one Andreas threated with a great respect, but basically didn't feel that much more comfortable with it. It was about time that Andreas grew up and really behaved like a successor to the Tron.

"So the Booze, we have to do it then, there are still some music and a few entertainment options."

Saul looked at Andreas and grinned.  
"You probably won't grow up either, will you?"

Andreas smiled mildly.  
"Hey, if we're out there fighting for our lives in a year or two, we have to grow up fast enough. Now it's time to party."

Saul smiled too, but felt the restlessness gnaw at him. He hadn't thought about it like that before. Soon he would probably never see some of his friends again ...  
"Have you finished the list? I have to leave in 15 minutes."  
Andreas nodded and tossed the list, crumpled into a ball, to Saul.  
He sighed, shaking his head and disappeared from the room.

Farah walked with an uneasy feeling down the aisle that would lead to what was probably a relatively unpleasant conversation.

"Here you are at last." Got to hear her as a greeting when she entered the empty, abandoned room with only one chair. Farah looked confused at the chair but answered wisely without asking.  
"I was still on the way to take the tests away. We must have just missed each other."

Farah saw Rosalind looking at her with interest, as if she were looking for something that she knew would be there.

"Terrible weather yesterday, wasn't it?" Rosalind snarled and walked around Farah who looked confused at Rosalind.

"Absolutely, Ben's plants at the greenhouse were blown over half the site. But you certainly won't have looked for me to discuss the weather." Farah mumbled softly, carefully watching Rosalind's expression.

Which changed from the previously researching to an angry one. "Absolutely."

Farah looked at Rosalind as neutrally as possible, although the fear was slowly growing inside her.  
"Now?" She asked as confidently as she could possibly be.

Rosalind gave a cool laugh.  
"I liked your directness very much so far. Funny little girl you were when growing up. In fairness, I would like to meet you with the same directness. You should actually know that you haven't been able to lie to me for the past 13 years, and you should even now you can't do better. "

Farah now looked at Rosalind openly concerned.  
"What are you talking about?"

"Well, Farah, I was very annoyed at first when the fire fairies managed to burn down the maze. But then I discovered something that soured my mood even further. Magically made water is mostly fire resistant. I suppose you know that?"

Farah felt the worry finally manifest itself like a clawed hand wrapped itself around her bowels and pulled them away.  
She swallowed noticeably and tried to keep looking blankly at Rosalind.  
"Absolutely. Would you please stop speaking in riddles?"

Rosalind hissed angrily.  
"Girl, I hate to repeat myself. You are a terrible liar. I saw the puddle. It was still there after the fire and not evaporated. I will not blame Silva for this mistake. He did not ask you for it and has his punishment with the injured shoulder. But I'm really disappointed with you. You can become so much, and you'd rather be busy dragging an orphan through an exam that will only bring him death out there. "

Farah looked worriedly at the window in the room that showed the woods.  
"He is strong enough to survive there." She answered quietly.

"And you really think you're the one that can decide that?" Rosalind asked with a cool laugh.

"I'm not going to spare you training tonight. If you can waste your energy on others, you can allow yourself a few more hours of training, right?"

Farah looked at Rosalind and sighed softly and nodded.

"Very nice. It's good that you see it that way too. Let's see what we can get out of you. Your telekinesis skills are still rather poor. You still need your hands."  
Rosalind grinned wickedly.  
"On the chair."

Farah sat down and immediately ropes shot around her wrists and ankles and tied her to the chair. Brown eyes widened in shock.  
"W-what are you doing t-there?"

Rosalind smiled wickedly.  
"Oh, are you saying you are not prepared? Maybe we should ask Mr. Silva if he could help a little."

Farah swallowed hard and shook her head jerkily. Then she leaned carefully against the shackles. In response, they only pulled tighter and began to cut into their joints.

"Hmm, we don't want to wake anyone, right?"  
Rosalind asked thoughtfully, and with a snap brought a ball of cloth into Farah's mouth. Farah felt tears well up in her eyes. She shook her head fearfully and pressed pleading words against the fabric that did not leave her mouth.  
"Hm, let's see." Rosalind muttered and snapped. Some training discs from the specialists appeared that were otherwise used as targets. Solid rubber with a metal edge.  
Rosalind's eyes glowed blue and the panes flew at Farah at breakneck speed. Farah looked at them with wide eyes.

The first two brushed her upper arms and left slight grazing wounds. The third flew at full speed towards Farah's centre and hit her, with the flat side, but at full speed in the pit of the stomach. The momentum was so strong that she and her chair fell over and hit her head on the floor with tears in her eyes.

"That was a poor achievement." She heard Rosalind comment as a searing pain spread across the back of her head. With a jerk the chair was back in the middle of the room.  
Rosalind came running up to Farah and put a hand on the younger fairy's cheek, almost caring.  
"You have to focus on that, dear."

Farah looked at Rosalind. There was a maternal expression in the woman's eyes that Farah recognized and cursed. Every time, Rosalind managed to cast a spell over her again, giving her the impression of protection and love.

"Shall we try again huh?" Rosalind asked softly and smiled at Farah.

Farah shook her head with tears in her eyes.  
"Oh, Farah, instead of howling, you should collect yourself and concentrate better on the panes." With that she let the panes race again at Farah, who closed her eyes in panic and prayed to her inner strength that she would get through this night.

A few hours later.  
Farah looked blurred at Rosalind, leaning against the wall, out of breath.

"Your mind is still open like a book. I can influence you without any problems. You are weakened." Rosalind explained and dropped the hand she had used to meddle with Farahs mind.  
Farah's brown eyes looked tiredly at Rosalind.

"I hope that was a lesson to you. Hopefully you won't get the idea of messing around in my exams again. While I'm away, I expect you to teach the younger ones and train yourself. I'll examine you progress when I get back."

The stern voice cut into Farah's tired mind like an ax. Exhausted, she let herself slide down the wall and looked at her arms. The t-shirt exposed her bruised arms.

"I'll put you to bed after I've taken care of the wounds. You have the first lesson off. I expect you to attend the next class after that, though." Rosalind explained and walked towards Farah. Farah looked scared at the older fairy.

Rosalind's eyes turned white.  
"You were very clumsy my dear, the additional training drained you, and you actually ran into the panes instead of catching them normally with your forces. All you had to do was raise your hands. You were unable to concentrate. You being with others, help them and waste your strength leads to you lacking the power when you need it. The punishment should include more work but not injuries. Unfortunately, you have to put it to yourself. I will take care of you, and you will sleep longer tomorrow. At the second lesson you will show up for class. You will train for yourself when I'm away. I will check that afterwards." Rosalind said in a melodic rhythm. Farah's eyes briefly glowed white.

"Yes, Rosalind." She said in a trance. Then her eyes closed and she slumped.

"I have to find a better means of pressure to tickle the strength out of you. Pain is obviously not enough." She lovingly stroked the caramel blonde hair. "We'll both think of something." Then she grinned angrily. "At least the exhaustion made it easier to rewrite your memories."

Saul walked through the common hall and looked around. Ben had to be somewhere.  
After hearing two fairies talking this morning that Rosalind was incredibly pissed off and Farah hadn't returned to the suite, he was uneasy and worried for the mind-fairy. Then he saw Ben sitting at a table and dropped into the seat across from him.  
"Where's Farah?"

Ben looked up from his book in surprise and looked confused at Saul. "A good morning to you too."

Saul looked guiltily at Ben. "Oh. Hey, I'm sorry. I just heard-"

"That Farah didn't get back to her suite yesterday?"

Saul nodded slightly and looked at Ben in surprise.

"She trains with Rosalind in the evening of thursdays. If they train too long, she sleeps in her old room with Rosalind so as not to wake anyone."

Saul looked at Ben in disbelief. "Then why were the girls worried?"

Ben sighed softly. "She likes to get a little bit too far with training. Just like you yesterday. Rosalind likes to push you to the edge."

Saul looked at Ben and shook his head.  
"Have you seen her today?"

"No, she wasn't in the first lesson of Rosalind. I think that she was released."

Saul looked restlessly around the room.

"To be honest, I'm more worried about you right now. Is everything okay? Is there anything you want to tell me?" Ben asked with a raised eyebrow. Saul sighs and shakes his head.

"I just kind of have a clue. A bad gut feeling."

Ben looked interested at Saul and was about to answer when Farah appeared behind Saul and smiled wryly.  
"So actually I always sit here." Explained her melodic voice.

Ben saw goose bumps creep up Saul's arms. The specialist jerked around and looked happily at the fairy.

"You are here. You are fine." He mumbled and looked at her as she sat down on the bench next to him.

"Apart from my lack of sleep, I'm fine." She said with a smile and summoned the coffee pot at the end of the table towards herself.  
"I hope the stuff tastes better today than it did the day before yesterday."

"Hey!" Ben mumbled slightly hurt.

Farah sighed softly and then laughed.  
"Ben, you can't just cross the plants and assume the whole thing will automatically taste good."

Saul smiled slightly. His eyes scanned the fairy's body. He noticed how she took a gentle posture, to not hurt herself, while sitting. Ben seemed to notice Saul's gaze.

"Are you sure you are okay?" He asked again, ignoring Farah's comment.

Brown eyes looked up innocently from the coffee.  
"For heaven's sake, I can defend myself well, if I do get something, it's not the end of the world. Isn't it Saul?" She said with a grin and poked Saul's side with her elbow. He smiled, but was still not convinced.

"How's your shoulder?"

Saul looked at the fairy in surprise. "Pretty good so far. I think so."

Farah smiled and then looked at him with a flirtatious expression.  
"Very good. If you're dragging me to this party, at least I want to dance."

Saul felt a red sheen creep up his neck. Ben laughed softly.  
"Good that you told Farah, Saul, I've told pretty much everyone else, most of them sounded interested. Mainly because the dragon has flown out."

"Ben!" Farah said with a reproachful expression.

Ben grinned briefly. "'Sorry." He mumbled.

"Hey Farah, there you are! We have transcripts for you." Exclaimed Merill.  
Farah turned carefully and smiled.  
"Thanks, I'll be right there."

"I'll have to go guys, I just wanted to check on my plants." Ben explained and packed up his things.  
Farah looked after him with a big smile. Saul looked at her questioningly.  
"He's excited and in love. I think he won't just visit his plants in the greenhouse."

Saul raised an eyebrow in question.  
"Rose. A really nice earth fairy. Ben has his eye on her. And Rose just disappeared from the cafeteria at that very moment."

Saul laughed softly. "I'll give it to him."  
Farah nodded. "He's really kind. A little like a big brother."

Saul nodded too and looked after Ben thoughtfully. He remembered what Ben had confided in him about Farah.  
"Do you have siblings?" Farah asked from the blue, looking friendly at Saul.

He shook his head.  
"Oh, then you are really alone." Farah mumbled with concern on her face.

"Where from?"  
Farah looked guiltily at Saul.  
"Oh. I um. Rosalind casually told me yesterday that you are an orphan. By the way, she found out that I helped you. But don't worry, no disadvantages for you!" She added last when Saul looked at her worriedly.

Saul sighed softly.  
"Yes. My mother died shortly after I was born and my father was attacked by a burned one a few years later while we were hiking in Eraklyon's woods."

Farah looked at him with interest.  
"That explains why you are so good friends with Andreas."

Saul nodded.  
"Yes, his father took me in. My father was an important friend and soldier."

Farah sighed softly. "I'm sorry. I-"  
Saul put a hand on hers and smiled.  
"Everything's fine. I've now come to terms with it."  
She looked at him unconvinced.

"I have to go on, otherwise I'll get into trouble with Rosalind if I'm late again. See you on Saturday?" He asked, looking at the surprised Farah. He knew she wanted to tell him her story. And after seeing that she wasn't feeling well anyway, she didn't have to nibble at it again.  
Farah smiled slightly and nodded.  
With that, Saul was gone and Farah sighed softly.  
Carefully she stroked the long-sleeved jumper that covered her blue arms. An uneasy feeling spread in her stomach that she couldn't really place.


	15. What you don't know...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we go again. A little psycho-Rosalind for the ones liking her as a villian and a little love between my favorite pairing. Somehow poor Saul has to suffer a little in my story so far :/... Actually no idea why that happens so often :,)...Hope you enjoy the new chapter anyways! :)

Saturday morning:

"Rosa has left just right. We still have enough time to prepare the shed." Andreas said happily and looked out the window.

"Do you think I can go like this?" Saul mumbled softly and looked down at himself. After 20 minutes of searching through the closet, he'd settled on jeans and a black shirt.  
Andreas laughed softly.

"If you would care. You don't want to get yourself into the game anyway. You already have someone."

"Where do you know from?" Saul asked and turned around.

"I didn't know you liked it when the woman kicks you in the buttocks. But well, everyone has their interests or should I say preferences?"

"Andreas!"

Andreas laughed softly.  
"Hey, I'm just kidding. Yeah, that's okay." He pointed to Saul's clothes.

"She must be really damn pretty for you to make such an effort. First search halfway through school and then search forever for clothes."

Saul looked at Andreas in surprise.  
"You haven't seen her?"

Andreas shook his head.  
"Nope. Just heard that you didn't even stand for half a minute. Mike said yesterday that you were looking for her when you weren't at dinner."

Saul sighed softly and dropped onto the bed.  
Lost in his mind, he was playing with a tennis ball.

"If you want to get laid, it would be very nice if you don't do that here, but look for a nice cosy empty classroom. I would like to sleep tonight without moaning."  
Saul glared at Andreas and threw the laughing specialist off with the tennis ball.

"Hey let me live, or you'll have to drag all the booze over there by yourself." Saul laughed and shook his head.

"You are such a complete idiot."

"That's why we're friends."

Farah looked at herself in the mirror and sighed.  
"So no dress, Farah." Her gaze fell on the wounds on her arms and legs.

Then she heard a knock on the door. Panicked, she grabbed a wool cardigan that was lying on the bed and put it on.  
"Yes?"

"Hey, I wanted to ask you if you could have a little time for me?" Ben asked shyly.

Farah's eyes grew warm and she smiled. "Rose?"

Ben grumbled softly. "I hate mental fairies sometimes."

Farah laughed, sat down on her bed and patted the spot next to her.  
Ben sank down on the bed next to her.  
He didn't notice how Farah pulled the jacket closer around her body.

"D-do you think I would have a chance with her? You talk to each other quite often."

Farah cocked her head and smiled.  
"Actually, a friend's honour forbids me to discuss our conversations with you."   
Ben looked discouraged at Farah and sighed softly as he pushed his glasses back up his nose.  
"But I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to ask her nicely for a dance." 

Ben looked up in surprise when Farah winked at him. Ben beamed.  
"Really? Oh, I still need to check on the visual acuity potion." Ben began to babble and wanted to get up.

Farah grabbed his wrist and pulled him back into his seat.  
"I beg your pardon?" She asked aghast.

"I, well, I wanted to go there without glasses. You know. I just didn't want to be the nerd."

Farah looked at him in disbelief.  
"Oh Ben.. You already know that Rose thinks you are wearing glasses, I quote " is cute "?"

Now it was Ben's turn to stare at Farah in disbelief.  
"Really?!" Then he scratched his head briefly.  
"Oh wow."  
Then he smiled broadly.  
"Thank you, Farah." With that he pulled her into an embrace that made Farah wincing in pain.

Ben looked at Farah in surprise. Then he carefully pushed the cardigan off her shoulders and sucked in a sharp breath.  
"Farah! What the hell?"

Farah looked at Ben uncertainly.  
"What did Rosalind do to you ?!" Ben asked, pulling the cardigan further down her arm. "For God's sake," he muttered and carefully ran his finger over her arms.  
Farah looked at the floor.

"She found out that I helped Saul. As a punishment, we trained late into the night. At some point I was so exhausted that I did not catch the discs and stopped them with myself. I would have gotten them if I hadn't used my power for Saul that much before."

Ben shook his head in disbelief.  
"Stop blaming yourself. Rosalind should have stopped first. I think I have something against it with me. An ointment that helps against bruises quite well."   
Farah looked gratefully at Ben and smiled.  
Ben grinned mischievously. "Then at least Saul has something to watch too."

"Ben!" Farah said indignantly. He just laughed lightly and then explained with a serious expression.  
"I will help you now, but please promise me that you will stop your training the next time before something like this happens!"

Farah nodded slightly.

Ben pulled her up with him.  
"Well then we should hurry so that you still have enough time to dress up for your admirer, not that you need it."  
Farah just shook her head slightly and punched Ben in the arm.

Later:

"Hey Romeo, where is your Juliet actually?" Andreas called and looked at Saul who was distributing a few bottles of beer to new visitors.

"Since when have you been so well-read in First World Literature?" Saul replied with an evil grin.  
Slowly the alcohol worked and made him bolder.

"Oh shut up." Andreas shouted with a laugh and tossed him the empty bottle, which Saul caught easily.  
"Better give me something to drink. The girls over there look thirsty."

Saul followed Andreas's gaze and discovered one of the fairies who shared the suite with Farah, which he knew was Merill.  
He shook his head.  
"Be careful. They have more brain mass than your usual prey scheme."

Andreas stuck his tongue out to him while he took the beer bottles.  
"Every lady has different demands. Whether intellectually or otherwise ... that, my dear friend, is the art of finding out which demands the lady of choice brings with her."  
Saul sighed softly and shook his head with a smile. "If you think so..."

"Hey Saul, push something over there!" Mike called from the other side.

"Tell me, is bartender on my forehead?" Saul shouted with a laugh.

"No, but you look very attractive to women over there. Nobody wants to dispute your place, we always feel sorry for you. Andreas is like a shark on the hunt. We're thirsty."

Saul laughed, shook his head and gave Mike some bottles. Then he turned and saw Farah. A knee-length wine-red dress flattered her petite but sporty stature.  
Saul bit his tongue angrily when he noticed that it wasn't just him who noticed how pretty Farah looked. Andreas had apparently engaged her in a conversation and was leaning near her. According to him, the key to perfect flirting.  
Saul felt a faint taste of iron before feeling the pain on his tongue where he'd bitten it open.

"Maybe you should take her away from there. As far as I can tell as a good friend from her body language, she doesn't feel particularly comfortable, but is too kind to tell Andreas that she is not interested." Ben explained next to Saul.   
Saul looked at Ben in surprise.  
"Oh yes, and before you go, would you be so nice to give me two bottles, wouldn't you?"

Saul nodded absently and ran past Ben in the direction of Andreas and Farah.  
Ben sighed softly and reached behind the improvised counter for two bottles himself.

"In any case, I plan to take a few weeks off here soon and visit home. Dad would like to initiate me more into the duties of the king."

Saul shook his head slightly. Did Andreas seriously try the "I'll soon be king" number on Farah? He'd been able to tear up a few specialist girls with it last year, but not Farah.

She looked at Andreas with a polite smile. "Well then we hope that Rosalind will play along."

Andreas laughed softly. "I'm not really worried about that. How about you. Have you ever been to Eraklyon?"

Farah saw Saul at that moment and beamed at him. "Oh I, uh no, actually not. It's not like I would get a lot out of here."

"Andreas you should stop using your bad pick-up lines on a mental fairy. Farah smells lies ten meters against the wind." Saul said with a laugh and patted Andreas on the shoulder.   
Andreas looked angry and then irritated. "Farah?" He asked, and then it dawned on him.  
"Oh, I. Um, I'm sorry. I didn't know you had a date." He mumbled softly with red ears and disappeared into the crowd.

Farah looked after him with concern. "Don't you think that was a bit unfair?"

Saul laughed softly.  
"No, he licks the wounds on his ego for 5 minutes and then looks for a new victim to talk to."

Farah looked at Saul with raised eyebrows.  
"Thanks for the rescue anyway. Ten meters against the wind, huh?" She added with a grin at the end.

"Hmm, well, I may have been exaggerating about that. That might have been revenge for teasing me for the last few days."

"Does he have that?" Farah asked in surprise.

"Absolutely." Saul said with an uncertain smile.  
"What do you think if we go out a little? I have two bottles of beer here and could use some fresh air."

Farah smiled and nodded.  
Both made their way through the dancing people and sat on the grass in front of the shed.

"Cheers, I would say then." Farah said with a laugh as she lifted the bottle Saul had opened.  
He agreed with her and also raised his bottle.  
Unobtrusively he slid a little closer to her and looked up at the starry sky.  
Farah followed his gaze.  
"This is Roas. A giant turtle that carries the knowledge of the world's oceans through the spiritual world. Carved into its shell." Saul explained and traced the stars that belonged to the constellation with his finger.

"Hm. That must be a pretty big turtle."

Saul laughed out loud.  
Farah grinned. "Yeah what? That's a lot of info."

Saul shook his head, grinning.  
"You remind me amazingly of myself when Dad showed me the constellation."

She smiled slightly. "Oh I hope in a positive way."

Saul nodded. "Definitely."

Farah looked at the stars and also began to show a constellation.  
"This is Alron. An ancient dragon who is the origin of all fire magic. The legend says he taught the first fairies in it."

Saul looked at Farah in surprise.  
"Do you know the constellations?"

Farah smiled wryly. "I read about it at some point."

Saul smiled too. Then the penny fell.  
"Hey, then you already knew the story of Roas! You made fun of me."

Farah looked at Saul with mock innocence.  
"I would never think of that!" Then, however, laughter broke out of her. "See it as karma for the thing with Andreas."

Saul grinned broadly.   
"Well, you didn't have said something against it, as Andreas called this a date." Saul looked unsure over to Farah.  
"How about a dance? The music is loud enough out here."

Farah smiled at him broadly.  
"I would love to!"

Both started dancing slowly in each other's arms.  
Moments later they were both deep in a kiss. Smiling at each other in between kisses.

"As soon as you are not there for half a day, the mice dance on the table."  
Both jumped apart and turned around.

Rosalind gave both of them an ice-cold look, hands on hips.  
"I would have expected a little more from you in particular. Especially after our last training session." She said cuttingly to Farah.  
"You two are waiting in my office. Mister Silva, who besides you is the mastermind behind this party?" Rosalind asked coolly.

Saul just shook his head. Farah looked at him with concern and imperceptibly shook his head.  
Rosalind sighed. Then her eyes glowed white.

"As I said, you are waiting in the office. I will follow suit with Andreas."

"But-" Saul began, but immediately stopped when Rosalind turned and looked at him with a raised eyebrow.  
"Yes?" She asked icily.  
Saul felt Farah take his hand and understood.  
"I-um nothing, not that important." He just mumbled softly.

They both made their way to Rosalind's office.  
"That can't be a good thing when she's back already." Farah mumbled softly.

Saul sighed softly.  
"At the moment I'm more concerned about us. Even if I don't understand what you should have done."

Farah sighed softly as they entered the office.  
"I think it's more about what I didn't do."

Saul looked at her questioningly.

"I haven't stopped you."

Saul shook his head in disbelief.  
"She can't possibly get you a punishment for that."

Farah shrugged.

At that moment Rosalind entered the office. Without Andreas. Rosalind seemed to have read Saul's expression and answered coolly.  
"I have already spoken to your roommate and announced his sentence to him. You will also have to face the same penalty. However, I still need you for a little exercise. See it as an opportunity to work out a little reprieve." Rosalind explained and ran straight back to the door.  
"Follow me. You too, Farah."

Farah looked at Saul in concern. A bad feeling bubbling up inside her stomach.

All three entered the room where Farah usually trained with Rosalind.  
Saul looked at Rosalind with an irritated expression.

"Farah have a seat while I explain his job to Mr. Silva." Farah looked confused at Rosalind and sat down. Again the shackles shot around the fairy's joints. Farah looked at Rosalind, startled.

Saul's eyes also widened in shock. He quickly tried to run to Farah when shackles wrapped around his ankles and caused him to fall.

"I think I found a good motivation to get you to finally use your powers and not just look at me like a frightened deer." Rosalind said angrily, while shackles wrapped around Saul's hands. He gasped briefly in pain.

"Oh are they too tight? I'm really sorry." Rosalind declared hypocritically and let the bonds tighten.

"So dear. Now it's a matter of sparing your little friend from some really nasty injuries." Rosalind explained as her eyes lit up white again and the training disks began to float again.

Farah looked at Rosalind in shock and leaned against Rosalind's chains with all her might.  
"No, please, leave him alone." She wailed with tears in her eyes.

Saul sat tied up on the floor and looked confused between Farah and Rosalind.

Then the panes flew towards him and his eyes widened in shock.

"No, please, Rosalind, stop it. I don't know how to get the discs stopped!" Farah whimpered.

The discs hit their target and hurled the specialist a little backwards and onto the floor. There he remained unconscious.

"Saul!" Farah yelled, looking at the specialist with concern.

"Let's just try again." Rosalind mumbled, smiling coolly.

Farah felt tears slide down her cheeks.  
She closed her eyes and tried in panic to concentrate on the specialist.

Rosalind let the panes fly off. These stopped in the mid air just before Saul. Rosalind turned to Farah and looked into glowing blue eyes.

"Very good dear!" Rosalind cried happily.

Farah shivered slightly, then the glow left her eyes and the panes fell to the floor.

Rosalind's eyes turned white, and she began to talk to Farah.  
"You managed to use telekinesis without the support of your hands. Unfortunately, you lost control and hit Mister Silva with the panes. You are too dangerous for the boy. A relationship is therefore a bad idea." Farah's eyes glowed white again then she sagged in the chair.

Saul, who had regained consciousness in the meantime, stared at Farah and Rosalind in disbelief.  
"What are you doing to her?" He exclaimed angrily and looked at Farah worriedly.

"Well my dear, it happened exactly as I just told Farah, we'll patch you up a little, and you decide to stay away from Farah to protect her from losing control of her powers." Rosalind's eyes glowed white again.


	16. Back to the Future

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, it's quite short. Maybe I will be able to upload another one today. If not so, it will be up tomorrow morning. (Well in my timezone...^^)  
> Greetings Nine :)

Back in the forest:

"I still wonder why we never tried." Saul mumbled softly and ran his fingertips along the back of Farah's hand.

"Rosalind would probably have stoned us or tortured us to death. Well and later, we had other problems. Besides-"   
Farah sighed softly "I was really scared to hurt you. After that one training you helped with."

Saul sighed softly.  
"Hey, as a good specialist I should have defended myself. But yes, you are probably right, with Rosalind."

He looked at the others.  
"I had a really strange dream after the whole thing when I was caught at the party and had to help out."

Farah looked at him in surprise.  
"I dreamed of how we were tied up in a dark room and Rosalind shot us with the practice targets."

Farah looked at Saul in concern.  
"The sad thing is, I would say she could have done that, by now. She allowed the burned ones into the school to stimulate Bloom's development of strength."

Saul nodded slightly. "It's time we finally put an end to this psychopath."  
Then he rose and held out his hand to help Farah up.

"Guys what do you say? Can we go on?" He asked loud enough that all those scattered could hear him. The fairies nodded and gathered again on the tree trunk.

"Well then, let's go." Farah mumbled softly and began to scan the woods before them with glowing eyes.

"We won't be arriving today, think about where we can best stay the night." She explained.   
The source of magic she was connected to was forever far away.

A few hours later, it was dawn.  
"I think it's better if we look for a place to stay and move on tomorrow." Farah mumbled softly as she walked beside Saul, her eyes anxiously focused on the distance.

Saul looked at her questioningly.  
"Why do I have the feeling that you know something we don't?"

Farah looked at him and held out her hand.  
He took it and found himself in a vision of Farah.  
Burned ones roamed the woods around the school, almost as if they were on watch.

"Oh," Saul muttered softly. "We will not be able to get rid of them all in our weakened condition."   
Farah nodded in agreement.

"We're going to have to build something here and keep watch twice. Bloom is never alone, he is always accompanied." Saul explained sternly while the fairies looked at him worriedly. 

Bloom looked angrily at Saul. Farah could feel the burning anger of the fairy and looked admonishingly at the fire fairy.  
She whispered softly to Saul. "You'd best find a place to sleep. I'll take care of Bloom."

Saul looked at Farah in amazement, but Farah just shook her head and ran after Bloom, who had turned around and continued to run blind with anger into the forest.

"As much as it annoys you, you really shouldn't be wandering around alone." Said Farah when she caught up with Bloom.

"I can take care of myself. I'm tired of everyone making decisions over my head without even asking for my opinion."

Farah sighed softly.  
"Bloom, there are large groups of burned ones out there. Apparently they have chosen you as their main target, you shouldn't wander around alone. Not even Saul, Ben and I would be up to the amount of burned ones out there."

Bloom looked angrily at the mental fairy.  
"I can cope with them. I finished six by myself." Bloom screamed angrily as she gestured with her hands.

"Believe me, this time there are more than six and you told me yourself today that you do not have full control over your powers yet."

Bloom turned angrily to the teacher.  
"Exactly, right. Somehow this morning there was also talk of being helped with this magic!"

Farah looked at Bloom in surprise.  
"I'm staying that, Bloom."

"Oh, really? Why do I then sit around alone during the break and everyone else around me is helped with their strength, except me?"

Farah saw sparks shoot out of Bloom's hands and fall to the ground. Her brown eyes followed the glowing sparks with concern.  
"Bloom I don't know what you're talking about and you need to calm down urgently." As she did so, Farah held out her hands to Bloom.

"What am I talking about? Ask Sam, Stella or Musa! I'm fed up with everything. Nobody trusts me, everyone treats me like a ticking time bomb! No one wants to help me because everyone is afraid of me." Bloom screamed angrily and the sparks began to form small fires on the ground.

"Bloom, please, calm down!" Farah muttered with a concerned look at the fire and tried to walk towards Bloom.

Bloom looked at the teacher, blind with anger.  
"I can take good care of myself thank you!" She screamed and the flames shot up suddenly. 

Farah groans in pain as these twitched around her hands and forearms and consumed her skin. The mental fairy staggered backwards, stunned.

"What's going on here? You can also invite the burned ones directly if you are not quieter!" Ben called before he recognized the scene and looked worriedly from the fire to the staggering Farah. He quickly ran to his best friend and supported her.

"What happened?" Ben asked with a startled expression and looked at Bloom who looked at Farah with tears in her eyes, the horror written on the face of the red-haired fairy.

"I-I I didn't mean to. Really not!" She moaned softly and looked overwhelmed at the steadily growing fire.

Lured by the noise, the others came running over. Saul looked worriedly at Farah who closed her eyes and softly mumbled spells.  
Aisha reacted first and tried to create a wall of water around the fire. However, the dragon fire ate its way through them without any problems.

"This is not good." The water fairy whispered in panic and looked at Farah who still appeared absent.

"Bloom you have to calm down! The fire feeds on your emotions!" Stella called and looked worriedly at Terra, who was quietly mumbling "for God's sake".

Musa turned around, startled.  
"Guys we have visitors." She stammered worriedly. Saul looked from Farah to Musa and then into the forest. 

There was a loud screeching noise.


	17. Don't Play With Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we go :) as I said, the next chapter is up :)!

"We were just missing that." He hissed softly and drew his sword.

Ben dropped his hands from Farah's arms and started talking to her.  
"You have to calm Bloom somehow. The light, the sound, all of that attracts the burned ones. She trusts you! We will try to stop the burned ones as long as possible." 

Farah fell silent and looked at Ben in concern.  
"I'm afraid Bloom is beyond the point of trust."

Bloom didn't notice any of this. The fairy was floating above the floor, her eyes glowing and looking into nothing in a trance. A hissing voice in her mind began to talk to her.  
"They fear your power. They can never understand you. You are a leper. Different. No one will be able to love you monster ever. They don't want to help you because otherwise you would be dangerous." Bloom felt tears making their way down her cheeks but never arriving as the heat of her fire made them go away into steam.

Aisha sighed softly.  
"We help you." Sam muttered. Ben and Saul looked at the fairies in disbelief.

"You have never had to fight against the burned ones." Saul explained sternly.

"So what? We've already dealt with them, and you can't do it with only two people, Uncle Saul!" Terra called and made Saul's stern expression break.

"Terra-"

"No arguing. We help. Everyone. Ms. Dowling needs every second to get to Bloom!" Stella interrupted him.

Sam nodded in agreement.

Aisha turned to the headmistress who looked worriedly at Bloom, who was still up there.

"I'm staying here. Maybe I can at least offer a little protection with my water."

The others nodded and ran into the forest to meet the burned ones.

Aisha looked at Farah. "How do we do that?"

Farah shook her head in defeat. "I have no idea."

Aisha looked at the burns.

"That must hurt like hell." The water fairy whispered softly and wished for her aunt's water healing powers.

Farah shook her head.  
"Luckily I have a few old anaesthetic spells in store. But they don't last long. Not with this kind of burn. We have to hurry."

Aisha nodded and began to conjure a water dome.  
"I'm afraid it will be as stable as my wall. But still more valuable than no protection at all." She looked at the vortex of fire that had formed around Bloom.

Farah nodded and they both ran towards Bloom under the dome for protection. Aisha felt the uncomfortable heat creeping more and more into her body as they approached the vortex and her water started steaming away, slowly cooking them. She focused on the water dome, which was slowly losing its integrity.

"I can't keep this up for long." She murmured through clenched teeth. Farah nodded and looked worriedly at the shadowy figure that was visible through the wall of fire and must be Bloom. Both fairys fleeing behind a stone.

"We have to get to the middle, we should be safe there." She mumbled softly.

"Like a hurricane. The eye of the storm." Aisha replied with an expression of interest.

Farah nodded. "I hope so."

Aisha sighed softly and then added: "For that we still have to go through a wall of dragon fire that is chopping up my magic into bits and pieces. And I think the eye of this storm is too small for both of us."

Farah nodded and then explained: "I will try to create a mental shield. Maybe that will help against emotional flames. You will wait here and if in doubt take the others away if I fail."

Aisha looked scared at the teacher.

"No! I can't just ma-"

"But you can. You can help me by trying to strengthen my shield with your water magic."

Aisha swallowed hard and nodded.

She watched the headmistress who breathed in and out deeply and whose brown eyes began to glow blue.

"Are you ready?" She asked, turning to Aisha.

"Can you even be in a situation like this?"   
Farah gave her a wry smile. Aisha sighed and shrugged her shoulders  
"I guess so." Aisha mumbled and began to form a kind of water ball that resembled the one they were surrounded by.

"I would say on three then." Said Farah and smiled at Aisha.

Aisha looked anxiously at the older fairy but nodded.

"Saul watch out!" Ben called, growing a tendril around the burned man's ankle. This success was short-lived, as the burned one then effortlessly freed himself and continued to rush towards Saul. Without much problem he thrust the sword into the chest of the burned one, who collapsed.

"Thank you!" Saul called and ran to Terra, who was holding two burned ones with roots in check.

He wasn't sure whether to be worried they had 15 burned ones or lucky that the others didn't seem interested in them.

Farah ran towards the flames. A few hours ago she would never have thought of carrying out a suicide mission like this.

'Because going to school is less foolish ...' hissed a voice in her mind, that sounded a lot like Rosalind. Farah shook her head. She needed her mind without a doubt.

She felt the heat surrounding her and opened her eyes. If her life wasn't in danger she would actually say that the colourful flames inside the vortex looked beautiful. She felt the flames gnaw at her and Aisha's shield, preventing her from going any further.

Farah clenched her teeth and tried to move forward.

Then it happened all of a sudden.

Both shields tore and a flame leaked through them, brushing Farah on the side and making her cry out sharply.

The momentum of the vortex of fire jerked her to the centre, where she lay motionless, half conscious. She took a shallow breath and carefully tried to feel the burn with her fingers.

When she opened her eyes she was greeted by a fleshy burn on her side. She groaned, twisted in pain. Her gaze wandered to Bloom, who hovered over her and no longer seemed to be herself.

Then she felt a sharp stitch on her calf and looked at it confused. No burns or other wounds. But where did the pain come from? Suddenly it dawned on Farah. "Oh no please do not." She pleaded softly. "I have to end this quickly." With that she sat up, shaking with pain and looked at Bloom.

"Bloom please listen to me, you have to calm down, otherwise you have no control over your powers!" She called to the fire fairy who didn't really react. "Bloom please!" Farah pleaded. The fire fairys red glowing eyes looked down to the other voice calling for her. But the sharp cold voice calling her in her mind was winning over in no time.

"Saul!" Ben yelled as he saw Saul collapse and hold a gaping wound on his calf. The burned one had successfully caught him.  
Saul looked with wide eyes at the burned one who was about to pounce on him when a sword ate its way through his chest.  
Saul's eyes widened in surprise when the burned one fell on the floor next to him and Riven pulled the sword from his back.

"I hope I'm not late for the fun."

"Riven?" Saul muttered in surprise.

"Yes, old man, it's me." He noticed how Saul searched the area with his eyes.

"Unfortunately I'm alone. I ran away when I noticed that we were being fed some kind of stuff from Rosalind to play her little tin soldiers."

Saul swallowed hard and nodded. "Exactly at the right time."

Riven smiled slightly and helped Saul up when another burned one rushed towards them.

Riven and Saul knocked him out together like a well-oiled engine, then Saul sagged.

Ben groaned in exhaustion. "That was all for now."

Riven kneeled next to Saul and examined the wound.  
"If we have all, why is the wound still infected?"

Ben looked at Riven in concern.  
"What?"

Riven turned Saul's leg slightly to reveal a dripping black wound.

"But that was inflicted exactly by the burned one you killed!" Ben swallowed hard.

Farah sighed loudly. Somehow she had to reach Bloom. She carefully tried to get up and felt how the wound spread a pain all over her right side.

She reached out and tried to grab Bloom's foot. Unfortunately unsuccessful.

She groaned again in pain and slumped back to the floor. Unrest spread inside her. She had to save Bloom from herself. Somehow. And then she urgently had to find Saul.

She felt tears well up inside.  
"I screwed up." She mumbled softly and looked dazedly at Bloom.

Suddenly she felt a warmth that wandered through her body and gathered on her back. Farah grabbed her back, worried that she had burned himself again and felt wings. Her eyes widened in disbelief.

Then she shook her head. 'You may wonder later. Use it. Immediately.' She called herself to order and tried to get up again.

She concentrated and felt herself take off. Carefully, avoiding the tongues of fire, she flew to Bloom.  
"Oh Bloom." She whispered softly when she saw the fairy's tear-streaked face. Without hesitation, she hugged Bloom and began to hear a cold voice she knew very well.  
"You have to destroy them before they destroy you. They are afraid of you. You are dangerous for them. You would be better off without them as weights on your legs. Destroy the people who reject you because you are the special one, you don't need them."

Farah looked startled at Bloom, who was still lying impassively in Farah's arms.  
"Don't listen to it Bloom, that's not true. We are not afraid of you, we are afraid for you! We would never expel you. Not only that, but we love you. Your friends trust you. Please come back to us!" Farah pleaded against Rosalind's icy voice.

The clouds of fire around both were weakening.

Bloom's eyes lost their glow, and she sagged in Farah's arms, so that Farah had problems with her new wings to take the extra weight.

Aisha looked astonished and speechless at both fairies.

"Wow" she mumbled softly when Farah landed also exhausted on the sunken meadow and the wings disappeared as quickly as they had appeared.

Bloom was still unconscious in her arms.

"Were that-"

"My wings." Farah replied, smiling tiredly.

"I didn't know you had any."

Farah laughed softly. "It's new to me too." Aisha grinned in disbelief and then looked worriedly at Bloom. "Is she OK?"

"I think so. She is just as exhausted as I am, I'm afraid. We absolutely have to go to the others, I'm afraid that something went wrong."

Aisha saw the gaping wound on her side.  
"I'm usually fully there, but you won't be able to walk a single meter with it." She points to the wound.

Farah sighed shakily. With no adrenaline in her veins, the spells subsided and the pain in her hands and arms joined those at her side.

"Guys, we need Ben's bag with the Zhanbaq!" Riven called, drifting to the clearing with Sam and Saul.

"You made it!" Ben exclaimed happily.

Farah looked at Saul, startled. Carefully but quickly she put Bloom in Aisha's arms and stumbled onto the unconscious Saul who was lying in the soft grass while Ben and Riven searched Ben's pocket.

Farah quickly grabbed Saul's hand and her eyes glowed blue again.  
Saul gasped softly and opened his eyes.

Tired and dazed, he looked at the surrounding figures. Until he saw Farah holding his hand. Blue-gray eyes fixed the mental fairy and a tired smile appeared on Saul's lips. Then he noticed how Farah was obviously having trouble maintaining the magic. His eyes travelled along her body and caught with terror in the eyes on the deep wound on her side. Suddenly Saul pushed the fairy's hand away and groaned as the wave of pain reached his mind again and not Farahs.

Farah looked at Saul in concern, but then sagged herself from exhaustion.

"Very good." Riven grumbled in annoyance as he cleaned Saul's wound with Zhanbaq.

"Two people who mess around with us here."

Ben looked worriedly at Farah and began cleaning her wounds as well.

Terra looked around and tapped Sam.  
"Hey can you help me put some wards?" Sam nodded and looked worriedly away from Farah and Saul to his younger sister.

Aisha and Stella looked at Terra.  
"We help you they're stronger with more magic put into them." Aisha carefully put Bloom down next to Farah and began to walk in circles around the clearing with the others and mumble the spell they had learned from Farah a few months ago. A small part of ancient magic that she shared with her students.

Musa looked worriedly at Saul, who was thrashing as Riven tried to look for the remains of the burned one in the wound.

Musa ran quickly to both of them and grabbed Saul's hand.  
This looked dazed and disoriented at her.  
Riven looked at Musa in confusion.

"Hey, I'm a mental fairy too. If it helps, I'll do it." She mumbled.  
Riven smiled. "You have courage"

Musa felt the wave of pain roll over her, but was pleased to see that Saul lay still and looked at Musa with a dazed smile.

Musa tried to smile back encouragingly, but failed miserably when Riven fished deeper with his fingers in the wound for claw debris.

She felt the increasing pain and looked at Riven through clenched teeth.  
"Could it be possible that you work a little more careful and faster?" She hissed lightly.

Riven looked up and grumbled back. "Hey do you think I'm enjoying this?" Then he fell silent. "Hey I think I have it!"

Musa felt the pain increase further, amazed that this was even possible.  
She looked up in surprise when she heard Farah groan in pain.

At that moment, Ben wasn't working on her wound.  
Ben seemed to notice this too and imperceptibly shook his head when he caught Musa's gaze. "Got him." Riven mumbled and Musa felt the pain subside immediately. She watched as Farah also stopped whimpering.


	18. Meeting Beatrix

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there,  
> Because I'm working tomorrow I upload this chapter also today, because I won't be able to do so tomorrow. It's your choice if you want to read it today or tomorrow :).
> 
> !!Regarding a sentence in this chapter:!!
> 
> In my mothertongue there is a saying "von etwas Wind bekommen" actually meaning something like: to get to know about something you actually shouldn't, because others don't want you to. Literally it's translated as "to get wind of something" ...  
> So as I'm writing in my mothertongue and translate it into english there are sentences like that sounding a little off. Normally I would change them into english versions of the sayings that have the same meaning. This time I had to leave it like that because of the pun Beatrix is making   
> (you know wind and air-fairy...* badumtss*)  
> when she appears. I hope you can cope with that for once...
> 
> Have fun with this slightly larger chapter with a lot of plot happening in it!
> 
> Greetings Nine :)

Later:

"How is Bloom doing?" Musa asked as she sat down next to Ben.

Ben looked at the fairy and smiled slightly.  
"Shouldn't you be able to answer that better as a mind-fairy?"

Musa sighed softly and closed her eyes. She moved around the clearing and saw a white mist around Bloom.

Then she opened her eyes again and looked at Ben. "I'm not sure."

Ben laughed softly.  
"Apart from the exhaustion, she is fit."

Musa nodded and looked at Saul and Farah, who were also sleeping in the grass.

Ben sighed softly.  
"The two actually want to appear as normal friends as long as the chaos is going on." He mumbled softly and looked at the fire.

Musa looked at Ben in surprise.

"You felt their feelings for each other, why shouldn't I speak to you openly." He explained and shrugged.

Musa looked thoughtfully into the distance.  
"Did she- did she feel his pain earlier?" Musa asked, confused.

Ben sighed and nodded.  
"I think so. I told you about the bond between fairy and specialist? Well, this bond is very strong between the two of them. It also was back then, when we were first fighting against the burned ones. If one of them got injured, the other one also had trouble going on with fighting. But this thing, that bond, somehow had grown stronger in the last days..."

Musa nodded and chewed her lower lip lightly. "I think they call it a soulmate."

Ben looked up in surprise. Musa smiled shyly. "It's a mind-fairy thing I think."

Ben looked from Musa to Sam and back.  
Musa smiled slightly.  
"They are the calm in the chaos for our kind."

Ben nodded with a smile.  
He had heard this description from another certain mind-fairy a few years ago.

"I think we should lie down too. I have to relieve Riven with the guard in a few hours." Musa nodded and got up.  
"Sleep well." Ben looked up and smiled.  
"You too, Musa."

Musa made her way between the sleepers to Sam and snuggled up against him. She enjoyed the warmth and calm he radiated and slipped into a comfortable sleep.

A few hours later, Bloom woke up and shot upstairs. Did all of this really happen? She looked around in panic. Her gaze stopped on the piece of sunken meadow that still glowed slightly in the moonlight. Bloom swallowed hard and kept looking around. She saw the others asleep in small groups. Only Riven sat leaning against a tree trunk and watched her.

Bloom was about to get up and fire a juicy flame at the specialist when she realized that he was not only holding his, but also Silva's sword.

Riven got up quietly and made his way to Bloom.  
"So you are finally among the living again?" Bloom looked at him furiously, but before she could answer venomously Riven replied calmly, "We were made docile with potions. I ran off and looked for you guys. I came exactly right, otherwise Silva would probably be dead by now."

Bloom looked at Riven, startled.  
"What?!" Bloom whispered angrily.

Riven nodded in the direction in which Bloom could make out two silhouettes. Farah and Saul lay there.

"What happened?" Bloom muttered softly as she rose and walked towards them. 

Riven followed her quietly and explained in a whisper: "Ms. Dowling let you turn her into a barbecue skewer to bring you back among the normal people and Silva was attacked by a burned man who I was able to kill in time. Unfortunately the wound is still there infected because I was only able to remove the last splinter of the claw earlier. "

Bloom looked at Riven in panic. So was her dream a reality after all? She felt Riven's choice of words "normal people" give her a pang.

She sank quietly next to Farah and sucked in a sharp breath when she saw the bandages soaked with Zhanbaq on her hands, forearms and stomach.

Bloom bit her lower lip. It was all her fault. Carefully she brushed a strand of hair from the face of the mind-fairy and felt that she was cold sweaty. Startled, Bloom withdrew her hand and looked at Riven. "She is not feeling well!"

Riven looked at Farah with concern, too.  
Bloom sighed and began to unwind the bandage around the teacher's right arm.

"Hey what are you doing !?" Riven hissed angrily. But Bloom just shook her head and closed her eyes as she carefully ran her fingertips over the burns.

Farah whimpered in her sleep. Bloom gritted her teeth together hard.  
"Come on, I can feel it." She mumbled softly and moved her hands away from Farah's arm. In doing so, she drew flames from her arm and let them disappear in her hands.

Riven watched in amazement with his mouth open.  
"How did you - no, forget it - what did you do there?"

Bloom looked at the arm, which was now only drawn fine, light lines. She shook her head.  
"I don't know. I just knew what to do."

Riven looked at her in amazement.  
"Well then go on with knowing what to do there! The worst is the wound on the stomach. It's really deep." He explained.

Bloom nodded and carefully began to pull the bandage away from Farah's stomach.  
Her eyes widened in shock when she saw the deep wound. "What have I done." She mumbled with tears in her eyes.

Riven looked at Bloom pityingly and put a hand on the fairy's shoulder.  
"Hey, you didn't do that consciously. Aisha said that you were stuck in a kind of trance."

Bloom sighed softly. "Oh, of course that just makes me an ignorant monster."

Riven looked worriedly at Bloom and shook his head.  
"A monster wouldn't cry now and want to help people."

Bloom looked at Riven and smiled slightly.  
She quickly threw her arms around the specialist and whispered "Thank you" in his ear. Then she let go of him and began the same procedure as before.

After treating Farah, there were hardly any traces of the wounds on the arms and a relatively small scar on the stomach reminded of what had happened, Bloom turned to the also unconscious Saul.

"Do you think you can do something for him too?" Riven asked and Bloom noticed a slight tremor in the specialist's voice.

"I want to try." Bloom explained and took a deep breath.

She loosened the constriction of the leg and put her hand on the still blackish wound.  
"Hey we tied this off, so the poison wouldn't spread!"

Bloom nodded.  
"But I also have to get hold of the poison that came through." Again Bloom drew energy from the wound. This time, however, no flames, but a sticky, black substance.

"That looks like-"

"Liquid coal." Added Bloom mumbling.

"I can't make that stuff go away either."

Riven looked at the swirling black bubble.  
"Maybe on the scorched earth back there? It can't do too much damage there." Riven suggested.

Bloom nodded and let the bubble fly to the sunk spot where it dripped onto the floor.

Bloom's gaze wandered to Saul, who looked a lot less pale and whose wound looked less sore and red.  
"I think you saved two lives today." Riven said with a big smile.

"Yes, who were in danger only because of me."

Riven sighed.  
"Hey maybe you should just rest and tomorrow the world will be different again."

Bloom breathed in and out, trembling, trying to hold back the tears that were making their way. She nodded and dropped to the spot next to Farah on the grass.

"If you don't mind I would like to sleep here." She mumbled softly and looked at the two headmasters. "I would like to keep an eye on them."

Riven nodded and turned to wake Ben for the second shift on the night watch.

When he turned around to check on Bloom, a smile stole onto his lips. The fire fairy held Ms. Dowling's hand in her sleep.

"She'll be fine. You did a good job." He mumbled softly and walked over to the sleeping Ben.

Farah heard a soft murmur and carefully opened her eyes. It was getting dark, she realized gratefully, since it wasn't yet bright enough to make her pounding headache worse. Carefully she straightened up and felt the headache begin to crawl under her skin over to her neck. She grimaced a little but straightened up anyway.

She felt a warm body next to her and saw Bloom curled up asleep under a blanket. She smiled slightly. Sleep was a good sign. So she really did it and saved the fire-fairy.

Then her gaze wandered to the voices around the campfire.  
Ben and Saul sat there with their backs to her.  
Quietly, without waking Bloom, Farah rose and walked towards both of them.

"That's really amazing. The wound has healed so much better." Saul mumbled softly and gently stroked the bandage.

Ben nodded. "When Riven told me about it, I had to take a look myself. But well, we're talking about dragon fire magic here. Such ancient magic obviously has some surprises up its sleeve."

"Luckily." Saul replied.  
"I don't know what I would have done if she hadn't been able to heal Farah." Farah stood still and listened to both of them.

"What do you mean? Bloom didn't know what she was doing she didn't harm her on purpose." Ben muttered worriedly.

Saul looked up at Ben, startled, and shook his head wildly.  
"No! For God's sake, that's not how I meant it. I don't blame her. To be honest, I rather blame myself for not being able to give her any more help and not knowing anything about her past. It must be scary to know nothing about oneself. "

Farah smiled lovingly.  
"I meant much more that I didn't know how to go on. Without her."

Ben sighed and nodded, knowing exactly who 'she' was.

"That's what I asked myself with Rose back then. However, I just had to. For Sam and Terra."

Saul laughed softly.  
"I think the three of us did a wonderful job with both of them."

Ben joined in with a laugh.  
"I couldn't be more proud."

Farah grinned broadly and ran the last few meters towards both of them, wrapping an arm around each.

"You're awake." Saul muttered breathlessly and turned before Farah could even answer. Two moments later she sat on his lap and was kissed deeply.

Ben laughed softly. "So much for waiting on the subject."

Saul let go of Farah who looked at him startled but with a smile and red cheeks.  
Saul looked angrily at Ben.  
"I'll stick to it! But it just had to be." He ran his fingers over Farah's cheeks in love.

Farah laughed softly.  
"I'm also happy that you are apparently better."

Saul beamed at her and nodded.  
"Bloom is just amazing. She managed to heal both of us." Farah looked at the sleeping fairy with a mixture of pride, surprise, and concern.  
"That is pretty incredible indeed."

"We should be on our way soon." Explained Ben. "Provided you feel able to do so."

Both nodded and stood up.  
They woke up the others and started collecting the few things, they had, together.

Later on, while walking towards the barrier:

"I miss a shower." Saul mumbled softly and tugged at his sticky pant leg.  
"Oh yes that would be a dream." Aisha agreed.  
Farah laughed softly as she continued to stare into the forest. "Saul needs the shower a lot more in terms of smell."  
Saul nudged her laughing.

They have been hiking for a good three hours.  
Bloom walked amazingly quietly next to everyone.  
Riven had noticed this and joined her with a friendly smile.  
"Don't worry, I'm not forcing you to talk. I'm just there." He explained.

Bloom looked at the specialist in surprise. She had never seen Riven so understandingly.  
She nodded gratefully and continued to walk quietly beside him.

"They thanked me even though it was all my fault."  
Riven looked at Bloom and smiled.  
"Well, the two of them seem to see it differently."

"How is Sky?" She asked a few minutes later with concern in her voice.

"According to the circumstances, quite good. The potion is hard on him. He tries like a little puppy to get his father's attention and does everything for it."

Bloom looked worried into the distance.  
"We have to get him out of there." Riven nodded.  
"That and make it clear to him that his real father is walking up there." Riven said and nodded to Saul who seemed to be deep in conversation with Aisha.  
Bloom nodded.

  
"We're here," came Farah's voice. Bloom looked up in surprise and actually saw a bluish dome of energy where Farah touched it with her hands.

"Actually there shouldn't be any problems kicking through it. Rosalind wants to keep people from breaking out."

Saul sighed softly and jerked his hand away.  
"No, she seems to want to keep certain people away, too." He showed how his palm smoked lightly.

Riven sighed. "I feared that."

Terra looked at Riven, confused.  
"How did you get out then? I mean, when she tries to keep you in?"

Riven grinned slightly.  
"And here we come to my ace up my sleeve."

He picked up a small metal figure that looked like a beetle.

Farah beamed at him. "That's brilliant."

Riven laughed softly. "Yes, I did occasionally listen in class." Then he looked at Farah "no offense."

She just shook her head with a smile.

Bloom looked confused at the object.  
"What's this?"

"Our loophole in the fence." Ben mumbled softly and examined the object.

"I took it with me out of Rosalinds office. Nobody can guess that she has old, antique artefacts standing around as decoration in the office." Riven declared hypocritically.

Saul grinned broadly. "Come on, I would say then."

After everyone was in the magical protective dome, Riven pulled the small figure away and the dome closed again

  
"I'm afraid we have to hurry, Rosalind will get wind of it relatively quickly that we are here." Farah explained with a concerned expression.

  
"Appropriate choice of words." Commented a voice from behind the group.

Everyone turned to see Beatrix standing there, flanked by Sky and Dane.

"Great. The nerve-dwarf again." Stella sighed annoyed.

Saul and Bloom looked worriedly at Sky, who was staring blankly.

"Well boys. You take care of the young fairies, I'll take the adults." She formed a sphere of air and spoke into it.

"The others will be informed. Your decision whether you really want to mess with us." She said with an evil grin.

"You have absolutely no idea how the woman is taking advantage of you." Riven said with a wounded expression.

"Oh, she doesn't take advantage of me unlike you." Said Beatrix grinning angrily and snapped her fingers.

The two specialists rushed towards the group.

Before Ben, Saul or Farah could react, they were thrown into the distance by means of cutting air balls.

Within a few seconds all fairies had thorn bracelets on their wrists, which cut bloodily into them.

"You should keep your hands off it. They can be very painful." Then she turned to Bloom. "These are from Rosalind. Your little trick that set me free doesn't work here. Don't even try it."

Riven was on the ground and was tied up by Sky.

"Dude, do you actually notice what you're doing here? They are extraditing your family. The people who really love you!"

However, Sky remained emotionless.

Beatrix laughed.  
"Well then I would say our job is done. Here get the oth-" At that moment a thick tendril wrapped around Beatrix's ankle. Startled, she looked at Terra, who sat there tied up with magic chains.

"Are you looking for me?" Heard Beatrix Ben's cold voice. Ben emerged from the earth behind her.

"How?"  
She muttered, startled.

"Don't mess with people who know their magic better than you do yours." Ben continued to say coldly.

Beatrix turned around and saw Saul struggling with the two specialists.

"Damn it." She cursed and electrified the root so that it burned away.  
"I don't have time for that!"

With a crazy grin she formed lightning bolts that she directed at Ben. Before she could steer it in Ben's direction, however, she was hit by a tree trunk and thrown several meters over the area. Before she hit the floor, she formed an air cushion that caught her.

She turned around quickly and saw Farah helping Ben up.

Then she heard the wind making noise in her ear. Steps.

She saw Luna, Andreas and Rosalind running towards her followed by some guards.

An evil grin graced her face.  
"I've brought in some old friends for you."

She said and fired lightning bolts at the two fairies again.  
Ben was pushed aside by Farah and saw Farah shrink to the ground.

"Bulls-eye" said Beatrix with a big smile.

She saw how Saul paused for a moment and turned around, startled, his face pained. Enough time for Sky to handcuff him.

Ben looked unbelievingly at Farah who was lying on the floor and occasionally twitched slightly, because of the electricity wandering through her muscles.

Saul's gaze wandered to Sky.

"Listen to me, whatever they instilled into you, it's not you!" He said softly imploringly.

Beatrix laughed out loud. "The best thing is not to try."

Ben began to conjure tendrils again when he felt a thorn bracelet grind into his wrist.

"Hello Ben, nice to see you again." Said Andreas with a cold grin.

Beatrix ran up to Farah and smiled sweetly at her.

"It's a shame I had hoped for more. Miss D. was probably not your day today."

Farah looked dazed at the air fairy.  
"You're making a big mistake. You're not worth anything to her, she just uses you."

Beatrix looked coolly at Farah.  
"Yeah sure." She said while strapping a thorn bracelet to each wrist.

"Hello Farah, I wasn't expecting you." Heard Farah Rosalind's cool voice and looked up.

"But as Beatrix informed me I brought a little present for you." Rosalind said coolly and slipped a crown of thorns onto Farah's head looking like the thorn bracelets.  
"We want to make sure you don't trick us, don't we?"

Farah sagged slightly.  
"Hmm, I think our guests need a little rest and sleep, or what do you say Luna?"

Luna smiled briefly and let the intruders present sink into a deep vision she had created.

"Where are we taking them?" Andreas asked and looked at Farah, who was staring into nothingness as indifferently as everyone else.

"Into the dining hall. We'll lock it down and set up some nice cells." Said Rosalind.

"Bloom is being brought to my training-room."

Beatrix looked at Rosalind in surprise. "How so?"

Rosalind looked at the air fairy with a cool smile. "Nothing that would be of your business my love."

Beatrix felt anger rise in her body, but swallowed her displeasure when she earned a stern look from Andreas.


	19. In the Dark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here I am :D... work was a pain in the ass... Hope you enjoy. :)

Saul woke up and looked around, confused. Complete darkness surrounded him. However, he heard shallow breathing beside him. The last thing he remembered was the attack of a burned man who knocked him out. He had run unarmed through the woods for several hours. Then he heard a blood-curdling scream and walked into a clearing where the bloody remains of Ben and Terra lay. 

Saul shook his head in confusion. That memory seemed strange. Not correct. 

"Saul? Are you awake?" He heard from the darkness and looked into the blackness in the direction from which he suspected the voice. 

"Ben? You live?" 

"I guess so." He answered dryly. 

Saul ran towards the noise and tripped over something on the floor before crashing into the bars. 

"Maybe I should have warned you." Ben explained quietly. "We're locked up. I walked the entire cage. I couldn't feel an exit. I stumbled across Terra and Musa, I think." 

Saul, who was still sitting on the floor, carefully groped along the floor for the cause of his stumbling. "Why is it so dark here?" 

Ben sighed softly. "I'm afraid that Luna has removed all light from this room. Whatever you think you saw before you woke up here must also have been a vision of Luna." 

Saul sighed softly. "Are the girls all right?" He kept groping in the dark. 

"I honestly don't know. Both of them are still unconscious. You are the first to answer." 

Saul felt something sharp dig into his fingers. A quiet "Ouch!" Came out of his mouth.

Ben ran to the bars in the direction Saul's voice came from. "Is everything ok?" 

Saul continued to feel carefully. Hair, a head, a petite face, a narrow straight nose. Then it dawned on him. "Yes. I think I found Farah." 

"Really? That's wonderful! I was afraid that Rosalind would drag her off and finally carry out her plan." Ben replied with a mixture of concern and joy. 

The specialist felt panic rising at these words. Carefully he ran his hands over her face until he felt Farah's nose under his fingertips. He felt a chain of stones falling from his heart as warm, shallow breaths tickled his fingertips. "She's breathing Ben!" 

He heard a relieved laugh from Ben. "How do I get her awake, Ben?" 

A low sigh escaped Ben. "Not at all. I tried it with the girls. You have to find out how to leave the vision for yourself. And I'm afraid that Luna will have tried very hard with Farah." Saul nodded, but then realized that no one would see this anyway. 

He sat down and pulled Farah into his arms, careful not to touch either the crown of thorns or the cuffs, or even to push them deeper into the fairy.   
"Ben, can I get these things off somehow?" 

"No. I've already tried everything. Rosalind has strengthened them, probably three times more with Farah, after she was already able to outsmart her." 

Saul felt searing tears well up in his eyes. All that they were able to pull off and despite that now at the mercy of Rosalind? 

"As much as I hate to say that, at the moment we can't do more than wait and see." Ben explained quietly. "I'm sorry, Saul." 

Saul smiled slightly. "Hey at least you are here. I would not have survived psychologically to be locked in alone again." 

He heard Ben sigh slightly. "I wish we weren't locked up at all." 

Saul gently stroked Farah's cheek.   
"Oh you don't believe how much I want that right now." 

Ben knew what Saul was getting at. "Hey, if anyone can get out of here, it's us!" 

"I hope so." Saul mumbled softly. 

"Now what do you want from Bloom." Beatrix asked impatiently and looked at the fire fairy who was staring straight ahead. Trapped in Luna's vision of light. 

Rosalind pulled the cuffs tighter around Bloom's wrists with a snap of her fingers and looked bored at Beatrix. 

"As I said, it's none of your business. How about you go play a little with your dolls." 

Beatrix looked at Rosalind in surprise. She had never used such notes with Beatrix before. 

Rosalind seemed to notice this and sighed. "I will inform you of my plans in good time. The best thing you can do now is to help Luna distribute the new load of potion among the specialists. Please do not forget how much trouble and circumstances you have given us." 

Beatrix chewed her lower lip and nodded. Without another word, the air fairy disappeared. Not entirely convinced that Rosalind really wanted the best for her. She heard Dowling's voice warning her. Was she really that blinded by Rosalind's power? 

Andreas looked from the disappearing Beatrix to Rosalind. "I'm afraid you were a little harsh with her." 

Rosalind waved a hand dismissively. "The little one mustn't forget what role she plays." 

Andreas looked at Rosalind with interest. "Which would be?" 

Rosalind turned and looked at Andreas. "She is still a child. She may have strong powers, but she is still a child and not vital for my plans. If you fail to keep her under control, I will take care of her. Got it?" Rosalind asked coolly. 

Andreas nodded and cast a concerned look at the door through which Beatrix had disappeared. 

"Now be so nice and pick up Farah for me, will you?" Andreas nodded and also left the room.

Rosalind's gaze turned to Bloom again. An evil smile crept over her face. "Everything is going as planned." 

"Hello? Is anyone here?" It resounded through the silent darkness. Saul startled out of his thoughts and turned to the source of the noise. 

"Yes, Ben and I are here." He answered. 

"I-I can't use my powers." The voice declared, intimidated. 

"Stella?" Asked Ben's voice. 

"Y-yes. I think there are others here. We're locked up here, aren't we?" 

Saul sighed softly. "Yes we are. The thorn bracelets ensure that you cannot use your powers." 

At that moment a door opened and blinding light fell into the room. Saul narrowed his eyes and could see the dining room and four cages. In the opposite of his, Ben sat leaning against the bars and apparently also surprised by the light so much that he had closed his eyes. Terra and Musa lay unconscious in the same cage. Stella looked confused and apparently without any problems at the door. Sam was unconscious in her cage. The fourth cage held Aisha and Riven prisoner. 

"What do you want here?" Stella hissed and looked at the figure standing so in the light that Saul couldn't make out who Stella was talking to. 

But then Saul recognized the voice. "Calm down, princess, I'll leave you alone."   
Andreas announced coolly and moved towards Saul and Farah. "Oh already awake? That complicates it a little." Andreas explained to Saul. 

Saul looked anxiously at Farah, who was still unconscious in his arms. The thorns bored mercilessly into her skin, leaving tiny traces of blood running over her skin. 

Andreas grinned crookedly. "You have a lot more brains than you let others credit you with. Accordingly, I think that we agree that you do not start a riot, but for once cooperate." 

Saul's eyes widened in shock, and he pulled Farah closer to him. 

Andreas sighed annoyed. "Ben, how about you explain to him that he should cooperate. He's always been more inclined to trust your advice." 

Ben looked angry at Andreas. "Do you feel that good about betraying us all? We were a team!" He called and looked disgusted at Andreas. 

"Oh really?" Said Andreas with mock surprise. "Is that so? I really wonder where the sword-sized scar on my stomach comes from." 

Then he looked at Saul and drew his sword. "You don't happen to have a good idea, Saul?" 

Saul looked at Andreas' sword in surprise. "Put her near the door of the cage and stay in the corner. Then maybe I'll think twice about catching you later." 

Saul swallowed hard and clutched Farah's cloak. "Do it. It won't do us any good if the psychopath kills you here." Ben mumbled and looked defeated at the sword and then angry at Andreas who gave him a brief look with a disapproving smile. 

Saul looked at Farah and tried to memorize every feature of his fairy's face. "Andreas, I know you don't think much of me, but please promise me that nothing will happen to her. I beg you. If you don't do it for me, do it for Sky, please." 

Andreas looked at Saul in amazement.   
Ben seemed to understand and nodded. "She's still his Aunt Farah. More or less the only female caregiver he had as a child." Ben explained quietly. 

Saul noticed how Andreas swallowed hard and looked at Farah. He briefly discovered an expression on his face that he knew from his best friend. One full of friendship, affection and empathy. As soon as that expression appeared on the man's face, it was gone again. 

"I try it." Andreas uttered coolly and pointed with his sword at the area in front of the door. "Come on now. Rosalind is waiting." 

Saul sighed softly and looked at Farah. Carefully he kissed her on the forehead and placed her on the cage floor in front of the door. Andreas got Farah out of the cage quickly and practically. Saul felt anger boil in himself when he saw how little effort Andreas made to be careful with the fairy. He lifted her roughly over one shoulder and disappeared from the room. With that he only left darkness. In the room, but also in Saul's mind. The specialist hadn't been aware of this before, but the proximity to Farah had reassured him. Now he had apparently fallen out of the realm of magic that the unconscious Farah radiated and felt self-doubt, feelings of guilt, fear and hopelessness gnawing at him again ...


	20. Rosalind's Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello :)  
> Today the chapter is really short. I myself am kind of unhappy, but I'm working today again so it has to be enough. Hope you like it anyways...
> 
> Between I love the Instagram-feed regarding my favorite pair! There are these short-storys (mostly few sentences as dialogues)... you guys should read them :D!! They're really funny and sweet.
> 
> Greetings Nine :)

"Hello dear, you should come to yourself slowly." Rosalind said in a sugary sweet voice while carefully stroking Bloom's cheek.

"Luckily we found you in time. You could have plunged all of them into misery." She added, looking at Bloom with a worried expression.

Bloom looked at Rosalind, confused. Then she felt the bonds and the thorn bracelets and looked angrily at Rosalind.

"What's going on here!" She hissed angrily.

"Don't you remember it anymore?" Luna asked, who came walking into Bloom's field of vision.

"You fell into a kind of trance and started attacking absolutely everyone present. Exactly at the moment when we were close to a peaceful solution."

Bloom looked at her hands in amazement.

Then she remembered her dream before she woke up. Was it not a dream, but her veiled memory of the state in the trance? She had rained clouds of fire on everyone and still remembered the screams of her friends.

Bloom swallowed hard and looked at Rosalind.

"We tied you up and put the thorn cuffs on you to protect you and everyone around you. Your powers just got out of your control." Rosalind declared with a motherly warmth.

Bloom felt tears well as she remembered the pictures of the wounded headmasters. The guilt felt like ice-cold hands constricting her throat.

"A-are the others alright?"

Luna smiled sweetly too. In that brief moment she almost reminded her of Stella.  
"I put them in a magical vision to relieve the pain while being threated."

Bloom looked at both older fairies in shock.

"What have I done? Bloom mumbled softly and looked with tears at the thorn bracelets.

Rosalind sighed theatrically and ran towards Bloom.

"I have something to tell you. However, it will not please you. For this reason we will leave you in this position for the time being. I wanted to keep you from the truth, but I just can't."

Bloom looked at Rosalind suspiciously.  
"I don't trust you anymore."

Rosalind smiled coolly.  
"Of course not. The others will have done a lot of work for that. But I promise to tell you the absolute truth and I can prove it to you with visions."

Bloom looked at the fairy in amazement.  
"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about your parents Bloom. I know who they are and where you can find them. If we research your origins together, we may be able to fix your problem. Free you of this burden." She said while poiting to the bracelets.

Bloom gritted her teeth in anger. She didn't trust Rosalind. But if she really knew more about Bloom's parents or could help her with her powers, Bloom just couldn't say no.

"Bloom, I haven't lied to you a single time. In contrast to some others surrounding you. Do you really think I'll start today?"

Bloom sighed softly and shook her head.

Rosalind smiled slightly.  
"Very good. You have to trust me so that I can show you what you need to see dear!"


	21. Visions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go.  
> I haven't forgottem you guys, there was just a lot of things going on this weekend.  
> Therefore I made this chapter a little longer and with a good amount of info :D. If you trust the info is your concern😉...  
> Enjoy!

Andreas ran through the corridors to Rosalind's office. When he dropped Farah there he would try to take a look at what Rosalind was actually doing with the fairies.  
Of course, he trusted her unconditionally after everything she'd done for him. After his wife died, she gave him a meaning in life. She had patched him up and given Beatrix to him after Asterdell.  
He just owed it to her. And now? By the end of this 16-year plan, he was the winner, had his son, and was free.

His gaze fell on the unconscious Farah, who he had sat on the chair and tied tightly.  
She hadn't aged too much. On the contrary, she looked younger than at the time of the war against the burned. The time of peace seemed to have done her well. Slight lines of laughter emerged around the fairy's closed eyes, in the eyes that previously only showed coldness, resignation and precision.  
He wondered if Saul and Ben had lied, or if the mind-fairy had actually taken care of Sky.  
He could only partially imagine a maternal Farah, but really hoped it was true. The boy had suffered greatly after his mothers death.

Then he noticed how the fairy moved slowly and looked sleepily at him. Obviously frightened by his person, Farah tried to use her powers protectively.  
Andreas saw how the fairy's eyes glowed briefly and immediately turned brown again. He grinned broadly at her.

"Oh Farah, no need to go directly defensive. I wouldn't just hurt you. Your powers won't do you any good. They're cancelled by seal runes."

Farah looked angry at Andreas but was silent.

"Have we become dumb? I hope you won't get used to that. After Rosa has finished with the fire fairy, she would like to talk to you."

Farah gritted her teeth angrily and looked away. Andreas had nevertheless noticed how her head had jerked up when he talked about Bloom.

"I'm curious to see if Rosa will manage to withdraw the magic from Bloom. For years, she has tried everything to control the dragon flame." Andreas explained and sighed softly.  
"It's a shame that you all disagree. I would have appreciated you and your advice over the past 16 years. Well, with success you lose friends, and you win envious ones."

Farah jerked up and looked at Andreas angrily.  
"You pretended to be dead for 16 years, letting your son believe he was an orphan and betraying us all! Do not think that I meet you with any kind or form of pity. Andreas of Eraklyon, you are a soulless, emotionally cold human being and much more a miserable father, comrade and friend. " Broke it out of Farah.

Andreas, who was already on the way to leave the room, turned on his heel.  
"I'm a bad comrade? Saul stabbed me! You all betrayed Rosa!"

"She killed innocent people in her madness to destroy all those who were burned. And you participated. Driven by your own madness to distract you from her death! So much that you hardly paid any attention to your own son!"

Andreas ran quickly up to Farah and leaned down menacingly while he put his hands on her thorny wrists and pressed them down more menacingly.

Farah escaped a slight sigh, twisted with pain.  
"Don't you dare talk about Sky! I had to go on without him for 16 years. And the settlers in Asterdell weren't innocent. Blood witches. You only benefited from the dirty work we did for you! Have peace in the peace we made, you lived and condemned us. "

Farah looked up at Andreas with tears in her eyes, but still raised her chin.  
"Do you have proof of that? Who tells us that Rosalind won't lie again this time, because it fits so well? You weren't there for Sky before you disappeared! Saul was more of a father to him than you will ever be."

At that very moment they both heard another voice.  
"Dad? What are you doing?"

Andreas looked over his shoulder and saw Beatrix standing in the doorway.  
"What can I do for you?" Andreas asked evasively and gently dropped his hands from Farah's wrists before turning to Beatrix.

"I wanted to ask you if you can tell me what's going on and what Rosalind is planning. But right now I'm much more interested in what you're doing there with Ms. D."

Andreas looked at Beatrix and took a few steps towards the air fairy. Fatherly, he put his hand on the young girl's shoulder.

"I brought Farah here because Rosalind wants to talk to her. You don't need to know anymore. You should be more calm in the near future. Rosalind has been a little annoyed since you spoke up."

Beatrix looked unsatisfied. Andreas sighed and nodded.  
"All right." Then her eyes wandered to the former headmistress who looked worried back.  
She felt a slight guilt gnawing at her when she saw the mind-fairy sitting tied up on the chair. The thorns ate their way into the elderly fairy's skin. Beatrix remembered how the weakened version had almost driven her insane and run her hands thoughtfully over her wrists. She remembered the painful stinging and burning tingling sensation of the pent-up magic. She wondered if with a magical being as strong as Farah Dowling, that tingling was even worse.

"Is there anything else?" Andreas' voice tore her out of her thoughts.

"Uh, no. I'll take a tour of the fairy wing. Call me if you need help." She answered quietly and disappeared from the room.

Andreas turned her back to Farah and looked at her.

"Look at you. Weak and defenseless without your magic. A joke." He said coolly.

Farah still looked absently at the door through which Beatrix had disappeared.

"You are raising another child instead of taking care of your own for fear of recognizing her in it. Instead of protecting your foster daughter, you let her run into Rosalind's dangerous open arms like into scissors. I really wonder who of both of us the joke-figure and weak. " She mumbled coolly.

Andreas looked angry at her.

"You're lucky that Rosalind still needs you." He answered through clenched teeth and quickly left the office.

"I hope you wake up soon." Farah murmured softly and sighed.

Saul heard Ben mumble softly.

"What are you doing?" He asked defeated and looked into the darkness.

"I'm trying to cast spells without magic. A useless endeavor, as I have to find out."

Saul sighed.  
"Stella? Do you have any idea how to break your mother's spell?"

He heard Stella's low, intimidated voice.  
"I know some contradictions against absolute darkness, but I bet this one will be special. Especially since I can't work magic anyway."

"We have to get out of here somehow ..." Saul explained angrily and grabbed the bars that held him captive.

"In principle, I agree with you, but apart from the fact that the others have still not woken up from Luna's projection, we see nothing and cannot do anything." Ben explained calmly.

"Yes, I know. But we will certainly have food brought. We have to try to attack the guards then."

"That sounds pretty dangerous and reckless. Solarian guards are not to be trifled with!" Stella declared worried.

"I am aware of that. But I will not wait for Rosalind to see no more use in someone of us and kill them. I did it once, I will do it again."

Ben replied softly, "Last time you were lucky you could disappear so quickly. Here we have absolutely no idea what's waiting for us behind the door."

"How do I have to trust?" Bloom asked in disbelief.

"I will try to look for your earliest memories with you in your mind. You have to let me into your memories just as deeply." Rosalind explained quietly.  
"I found an ancient spell."

Bloom looked at Rosalind in surprise and suspicion.  
"You just said you knew who my parents are."

Rosalind smiled coolly.  
"Absolutely. At least I have my own memories. But you will probably not believe them. Accordingly, I would like to try to find your own with you."

Bloom swallowed hard. Rosalind wasn't wrong.  
"Luna? How about you leave us both alone? I think such old memories are very intimate." Rosalind said sweetly and looked at the light fairy.  
She nodded and gave Bloom's shoulder a brief squeeze. "Good luck, I'm sure you will be successful. I'll check on the others."

Bloom watched Luna go.  
"You should close your eyes and focus on my voice."

Bloom did so and felt the sour excitement build up in her stomach.  
Bloom heard Rosalind's voice in her mind.  
"Try to remember the oldest memory you can think of."  
Bloom made an effort.  
Vanessa baked cookies with her for Christmas while her father shoveled snow in the garden.

"Very good. You have to try to go further into the past."

Bloom struggled and remembered a bright light.  
"Hello little one, welcome to the world." Said a young woman with friendly green eyes and a nurse's uniform. Bloom felt the cold creep into her limbs. "Ooooh don't cry my little one, you can go to your mom right away."

Bloom was almost startled when she heard Rosalind's voice. "YES! You're almost there, go on!"

Bloom felt fear spreading inside her. The excitement made her heart beat like crazy, so that Bloom thought she could feel it pounding in her throat. "Hello you little worm." Bloom heard a warm, familiar voice, but still saw only bright light.

"I can show you my version of this memory if you allow me?" Heard Bloom Rosalind's voice moving through her head like a group of hyenas hunting.  
Bloom nodded and felt the energy envelop her. She opened her eyes again and looked around. Her gaze wandered over the old stone walls of the village through which she was walking. No not her. Rosalind.  
"By the way, that was Asterdell before we had to destroy it."

Bloom felt tears well up.  
"Was it really necessary? The people were innocent." Bloom murmured softly as she followed Rosalind through the winding streets.

"That is what Ben, Saul and Farah make you believe because they still felt unnecessarily guilty."  
Bloom sighed softly.  
"But we digress, this building is a hospital. This is where you were born."

Bloom looked at the tall, bright building in surprise.  
"I thought I was kidnapped here."

Rosalind sighed softly.  
"Yes, I told you that to save you from setting the whole school on fire. It's not a lie, but unfortunately only part of the information. You were actually dragged away by the residents after you were born. I have you saved and hidden because your parents weren't up to the task of looking after you. "

Bloom looked at Rosalind with wide eyes.  
"T-they gave me away because of my dragon flame? And why did the settlers want to kidnap me."

"Your ancient magic is the answer to both questions."

"I-I don't want to know who it is. They didn't want me. What use is it to me to see who they are? I've found my family. In California and here in Alfea."

Rosalind's mouth twitched slightly.  
"I wish I could make it so easy for you. But we have to explore the origin of your dragon flame. This is the only way we can free you from this burden, you have to understand where you come from. Then there is also the chance that your parents will be there for you again, when you are no longer a danger. "

Bloom swallowed lightly. Meanwhile, in her memory, Rosalind was in the hospital, walking purposefully down the corridors.  
"Do we really have to-"

"Yes," said Rosalind curtly without admitting contradictions.

Bloom felt increasingly uncomfortable and watched the corridors in the memory Rosalind walked through.  
Before she could see who was in the room, she heard a warm male voice ask.

"Do you have a suggestion what we name her?"  
Bloom's eyes widened in shock.  
A relatively young Saul Silva smiled in love down at none other than Farah Dowling, who was holding a small child with red hair in her arms. The mind-fairy looked tired and exhausted but also smiled at the baby and said quietly: "What do you think of Bloom?"

Saul looked confused at the fairy.  
She laughed softly and gently stroked the baby's hair.  
"I was as happy as I am now when I let a flower bloom for the first time. We created life Saul."

He smiled broadly and nodded.  
"I like that name."

Bloom's eyes widened in disbelief. Shaking her head, she backed up to the door of the room, but didn't get far because Rosalind was standing there.

"I see you are fit again." Said the memory Rosalind.  
"Luckily we were just near Asterdell. That could have been a close call."

Bloom saw Farah looking at Rosalind confused but then nodded. "Given the circumstances, I'm fine."

Bloom felt a cold shiver settle over her.  
"How so?" She stuttered softly with tears in her eyes.

Rosalind looked at Bloom with interest.  
"Why what?"

"Why did she lie to me?"

Rosalind sighed theatrically.  
"Let's just ask her."

"What?" Bloom asked in disbelief with tears in her eyes.

"I sent Andreas for her. She should be here soon."

Bloom shook her head again in despair.  
"No, I don't want that."

Rosalind sighed softly.  
"We have to talk to her to clarify the origin of your powers."

Bloom opened her eyes in shock and was back in the room on the chair with the thorn shackles. Her gaze wandered in disbelief to Rosalind, who looked at her pityingly.  
"I'm sorry, Bloom. I wanted to keep you from the truth. But unfortunately I can't. After we had fetched you back and learned of your strengths, she asked me to hide you. For fear of not being up to your strength. "

Bloom looked at Rosalind and felt the cold rise. "No. That's a lie! You've been lying all the time. Why should I believe you now?"  
Despite what she was saying Bloom remembered the moments, when Farah had cared for others but not her. A fear was planting inside her like a old rotten tree.

"It is true."  
Bloom looked startled from Rosalind to Farah who came limping slightly into the room. "She's telling the truth."

Bloom stared at the mental fairy in disbelief and saw more burns on the body of the older fairy.  
Slowly Bloom began to regret the attack no longer so much.

The fire inside her began to blaze.

"I would never have been able to handle this power. If you had grown up in a magical environment you would have tried to use the powers before you were able to really control them. You are dangerous." Farah mumbled and looked guiltily at Bloom, who was again tearing down her cheek. But this time with anger.

"Get out of here!" Bloom screamed angrily and looked at her knees so as not to have to look at the fairy.

"Bloom please! I can help you! We can free you from the flame!"

Bloom closed her eyes.  
"No leave me alone!"

Rosalind smiled wickedly.

"Farah, I think it's time to do the right thing for your child and do what she asks you to do."

Bloom saw the mind-fairy look at Bloom with a mixture of coldness and sadness, nodded and disappeared from the room.

Bloom felt the anger continue to simmer. "How could they?" She mumbled, crying softly.

Rosalind looked at the thorn-braceletts, which were beginning to wobble and glow dangerously.

"You should calm down. I understand your anger, but she is right, she can help you. You could finally be loved by your parents as you have wished you would all last year."

Bloom looked hatefully at the door behind which Farah had disappeared.  
"They didn't want me then, so they don't want me now either."

Rosalind's gaze wandered to Luna who had quietly entered the room behind Bloom and motioned for her to pull Bloom into a vision.  
Moments later, Bloom slumped in the chair, unconscious.

"She seems very upset." Luna explained and looked at the fire fairy.

"Indeed. I had expected grief and the will to get rid of the strength voluntarily. However, I can perhaps make use of the anger to get rid of Farah. Luna, my dear, there is one thing you have to keep in mind at all times, if the plan does not work as anticipated, use the rough edges to make it stronger. "

Luna smiled coolly.  
"Anyway. Farah is waiting for you in your office."

Rosalind looked at Luna and smiled slightly.  
"Oh dear, the strategy of running a kingdom is not all that different. You should actually be careful."

With that, Rosalind left the room and made her way to the office.


	22. Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Later than expected, but I decided to leave the chapter a little bit longer than firstly planned, so I had to translate more...
> 
> I'm really impressed how good you guys are with theories. 😂 Did I write it that obviously? :D...
> 
> It's really fun to read your ideas in the comments :D... I'm really greatful for the nice words of yours! AND what the heck? Nearly 5000 hits?!?!?! You guys are insane :D. Therefore a little fluff and excellent villian-Rosalind for you guys. Hope you enjoy. The next chapter will take a little longer. Have a few appointments in the next days.
> 
> Greetings Nine!

Farah looked at the window. It was slowly getting dark and the land around the school looked deceptively idyllic and calm.  
Her gaze wandered through the office that Rosalind had transformed back into the cold place, she knew from her childhood and youth, within a few days.

"Do you like it? I have to admit, I kept most of your books. But otherwise it was way too crowded here. You can't concentrate at all in here." Rosalind explained coolly as she walked relaxed into the room.

Farah looked angrily at Rosalind.  
"Where are the others?"

Rosalind laughed softly and walked up to the younger fairy.  
"At the moment that shouldn't be your concern. You are yourself up to your head in a mess. It could be that your past is slowly catching up with you my dear."

"What are you talking about?" Farah hissed back. Again the brown eyes briefly glowed light blue.

Rosalind looked smugly at the thorn bracelets.  
"Nice to see that they work for you. For a short time I was really worried that they would fail with our changeling friend."

"Bloom? What do you-"

"How very touching. I would be careful, though. If she could do what she wanted, you would probably be just a pile of ashes at the moment. I didn't really plan it that way, but Luna delivered a really good performance."

Farah looked at Rosalind, confused.  
She just laughed softly.  
"For such an intelligent fairy you always had the rare talent to miss the forest through the trees. I don't have time to follow long explanations. Soon the moon will be perfect. I just have to tickle the rest of the formula out of your mind."

"What?" Farah muttered, and found herself looking out the window at the moon. Immediately she thought about various spells that were linked to the energy of the moon. Most of them water magic.

Rosalind laughed softly.  
"I can literally hear the gears in your head. But you don't know the formula I'm looking for, dear."

Farah finally looked confused at Rosalind, while she put her cool fingers on Farah's temples and closed her eyes.  
"It would be an advantage if you cooperate. Otherwise, it will be painful."

Farah gritted her teeth and tried with all her might to close her mind. Then she felt the thorns digging into her forehead and slowly eating away her mental protection.

"I told you to cooperate!" Rosalind hissed menacingly and forcibly entered Farah's mind.  
Farah opened her eyes and found herself in a place unknown to her.  
Rosalind stood next to her and smiled smugly.

"Where are we?" Farah muttered and looked around. There was no other person to be seen far and wide. Some trees that stood light on a large meadow and formed the edge of a deep forest that lay at the foot of a group of mountains.  
Then she heard a loud giggle and turned around.

"In your past." Rosalind explained with a smile and watched the two girls chasing each other in the meadow.

One of the two was a bit older and had long blonde hair that was artfully braided around a golden hoop, which apparently represented a crown.  
The second smaller girl ran away from her squeaking, long red hair.

"Don't run too far away! Mother said we can't go into the forest." The older one called and Farah looked at Rosalind in disbelief.

"This is me."

"Yes, I already said that."

"You always said that you didn't know exactly where I came from."

Rosalind's mouth twitched.  
"Farah dear, you should have learned by now that I am creating a truth that best fits my plans."

"Yes, yes, I know!" Called the little girl and ran around a tree.  
"Aideen!" Young Farah called and ran after the girl.

"Where are we?" Farah repeated in a stern voice.

"In one of your childhood memories on Domino."

"Domino? The Ice Island?"

Rosalind smiled slightly.  
"Yes. You met it as such later. Originally it was a thriving kingdom run by your parents, known for the gift of fire magic. Do you remember the history of Alron?"

Farah looked at Rosalind in disbelief but nodded.

"Now the legend is aimed at this people. However, nobody knows whether the inhabitants really learned the magic of dragons."

Farah shook her head.  
"You found me in a ruin that I fell into with my family. My parents and my sister did not survive the fall."

Rosalind laughed softly.  
"Yes, I made you believe that."

Then she started following the girls.  
"However, I must admit that my sisters and I have been searching for dragon fire magic for ages. As the firstborn of the monarchs, you were the best possible target."

Farah looked questioningly at Rosalind. However, this only pointed to the scene that played in front of both of them.

"Aideen?" Farah heard her younger self calling and watched the girl look around in panic with tears in her eyes.  
"Where are you?"

"You're behind it, aren't you?" She asked softly with tears in her eyes and looked at Rosalind.

She just laughed slightly.  
"There's no point in lying to you. Unlike others, you're too trained to recognize an implanted memory. Yes, I dropped her into the ruins through a landslide, where she was petrified in stone a few days later, just like the other residents. "

Farah looked at Rosalind with tears.  
"I don't have the dragon flame. All of these people are dead because of nothi-"

Rosalind interrupted her coolly.  
"You have it. I tested your sister. She did not show any magic. Quite atypical for two such magical parents, but it does happen. You may not have used the dragon flame, but continued your father's talent, but the magical root for dragon fire lies in yours genes that you have very successfully passed on. "

Farah looked at Rosalind, startled.  
"WHAT?"

Rosalind laughed softly.  
"After I had to break the seal on your mind, these memories will come back anyway. Why should I withhold them from you."

Farah shook her head and sat on a stone. She watched as her young self turned in circles and looked for her sister.

"I found an old underground temple, in the middle of the ruins. It fits very well with an old spell that I found. Unfortunately, it is protected by the magic of old dragon flames. For years people tried to break through the barriers in the hope of finding the treasure who is supposed to hide behind it in the temple. Unfortunately, these people were only burned and maddened, even those I tried to send through the barrier.  
However, I know that you visited this temple as a child and I need the knowledge that is hidden behind this flame-wall. "

Farah looked at Rosalind.  
"The burned! You made them!"

Rosalind sighed.  
"Part of them. Most of them were created by your ancestors. That's why they have to be wiped out!"  
Rosalind shrugged.  
"Let's look for the right one in your memories. This one doesn't get us any further."

Farah looked at Rosalind in concern. She had to keep the older fairy away. Whatever Rosalind hoped to get out of the information, it was certainly not good.

She continued to focus on closing her mind. If only the seal runes wouldn't jam and block her magic. She felt Rosalind pushing her way through her memories.  
"Oh Farah, stop making this more complicated than it has to be."

With this statement both found themselves in a further memory.  
Rosalind looked around greedily. They were in a relatively dark stone room lit by flames, the corners of the room were blurred.

"Dad, where are we here?"  
Little Farah asked and looked around with interest.

Farah smiled when she heard a warm laugh.  
"My little one, you should urgently work on your curiosity."  
A tall man with blond hair and a full beard walked alongside young Farah.

She just pouted and looked around with interest.  
"Why isn't Aideen here with us?" Young Farah asked, looking big at her father.

He laughed again.  
"You are already very young, but your sister is far too small for such an adventure. Besides, you are the heir to the throne. You have to know this." The older man pointed to a pedestal with figures carved into it.

"Wow, it looks really cool here." The little girl muttered and looked around. The figures carved into the walls and pillars showed stories and scenes that Farah knew.

"Is that the story of Alron?" She asked Rosalind and, like her younger self, marveled in the hall.

Rosalind nodded.  
"Amazing. The story actually seems to have originated on Domino."

Farah had meanwhile turned and looked longingly at her father.

Rosalind seemed to notice this and sighed.  
"You are not concentrating. I have to be able to rely on your memory! This is where the music is playing." She pointed to the pedestal on which an old book was lying.

Farah sighed shakily.  
"You took my family from me."

Rosalind laughed softly.  
"Absolutely. Even twice. Somehow that seems to be my role in your life. Well, dear, please do me a favor and come here. Without you and your concentration, the content of this book won't get any sharper."

Farah saw her father lean down to her younger self and begin to tell the story of the dragons.

Farah looked at Rosalind in disgust.  
She sighed and again pointed to the book.  
"If you help me find this information, I'll help you show your memories. All of them."

Farah looked at the book suspiciously.  
"What do you want with this book? Why should you volunteer to help me?"

Rosalind laughed coldly.  
"I'll tell you what I need the information for. I'll give you the memories back because you can't do much with them. Don't forget that you're sitting in my office tied up."

Farah swallowed hard.  
"I can hear the conflict in your pretty little head. That's why I'll help you." Rosalind ran up to Farah and put her finger under the fairy's chin. With that she forced the younger fairy to look her in the eye.  
"You can make memories and avoid pain. If you don't participate, I will torture you until you do what I want you to do. If in doubt, I will torture your beloved Saul to make you cooperate. Your decision. Only yours. You know what I'm capable of. "

As if on cue, Farah saw a memory in which she was a little younger and lay gasping on the floor and Rosalind looked at her disinterestedly.  
She remembered that evening again. Rosalind had her threatened until she simply passed out and still did not show the desired strength.

Tears gathered in the brown eyes of the mental fairy.

"I am fair and I will meet you. First I will show you your most important forgotten past, the rest will come later, and you will help me afterwards."

Farah sighed softly, then nodded.  
"Very nice, but you have to work with me."

Farah closed her eyes and opened them again.  
Her gaze wandered over the grounds of Alfea.  
"Hmm, I remember it. I saw you through the office window, thought that after the first kiss I would have put you off, but teenagers can be a pain in the ass ..."

Farah turned away from her somewhat younger self, who was standing with Saul in an alcove in the labyrinth and kissing him deeply, and looked over to Rosalind.  
"What?"

"I caught you back then after the specialist party."  
Farah looked at Rosalind in disbelief. Had she and Saul really been interested in each other that long?

"The memory will surely be back soon, but I think it makes sense to show you your family." Rosalind replied tersely. "We don't have that much time."

Farah looked confused at Rosalind and was suddenly in Asterdell.  
She watched herself. Supported by Saul and Ben, she was on the way to the hospital, holding her round stomach.

"I was pregnant ..." she muttered in disbelief.

Rosalind laughed softly.  
"Like I said, you inherited dragon fire magic."

Farah followed her younger self and the two men into the hospital as if in a trance.

"Saul, I'll kill you if you don't shut up!" The pregnant Farah huffed and looked angrily at Saul, who tried to calm the mind-fairy.

Startled, Ben looked from Saul to Farah and pulled them both onto a corridor that apparently formed the maternity ward.

"Hey darling, I'm just trying-" Saul started, but was interrupted by Farah.  
"Aaaaaah, I have to sit down."

A nurse noticed the three and pulled them into the next best empty room.  
Saul and Ben helped Farah carefully onto the bed.  
Ben smiled encouragingly at Farah.  
"You can do this, you helped Rose, so you can do that too."  
He lovingly brushed a strand of blonde hair from her face.

Farah remembered helping Rose deliver Terra, holed up in a broom closet while a large horde of burned ones attacked the school in Rosalind's absence. When the earth fairy died shortly after the birth, Farah had to wander through the school with the small bundle, that Terra was, without being attacked by the burned.  
A tear worked its way down Farah's cheek.

Her gaze wandered back to Ben who smiled at her younger self.  
"Terra can't wait to have a playmate soon! I'll register you outside properly. You can do it."  
Then Ben had disappeared from the room and the nurse smiled encouragingly at Farah in his place.  
"The baby will come soon. You got here very late."

The pregnant Farah looked exhausted at the nurse and answeres dryly.  
"I'm sorry, it was definitely not planned that way."

Farah felt the corners of her mouth twitch. It was definitely her, lying there in the hospital bed.  
Less than ten minutes later, the whimpering of a newborn baby rang out in the room.  
Farah watched with tears in his eyes as the nurse carefully placed the baby in her arms.

"She is beautiful." Saul muttered breathlessly, gently stroking the baby's head.

Farah looked at the baby affectionately and smiled.  
"Hello you little worm."  
She mumbled brightly and put her index finger into the baby's little fist.

"Do you have a suggestion what we call her?"

"What do you think of Bloom?"

Saul looked at her confused.  
Farah laughed softly and gently stroked the baby's hair.

"I was as happy as I am now when I let a flower bloom for the first time. We created life Saul."

Saul smiled broadly and nodded.  
"I like him."

"We love you little Bloom." Farah whispered lovingly in the infant's ear.  
"We will always be there for you and protect you. Nothing will ever happen to you."

Saul smiled too and nodded.  
"I'll kick your first friend through our front yard."

Farah looked reproachfully at Saul, who was grinning at her.

The older Farah smiled lovingly and held out her hands to the picture that played before her eyes.

The young Farah's eyes glowed blue briefly, and she beamed up at Saul in surprise.  
This looked at her questioningly.  
"She's strong. I feel a lot of magic." Then she smiled and added. "And unconditional love."

Saul laughed softly.  
"No wonder we're talking about our daughter. Even with 50% of your genes, she kicks everyone in the ass."

Farah laughed softly and snuggled a little against Saul, who had slipped onto the bed next to her.

The door opened with a loud bang and Rosalind rushed into the room.  
"Hello Farah, I see you made it, you look amazingly relaxed again."

Farah looked at Rosalind in surprise.  
Then a smile stole onto her lips as little Bloom began to beam happily.  
"Look Bloom, this is Aunt Rosalind."

Rosalind smiled coolly.  
Ben hobbled into the room behind Rosalind.  
"You have to get out of here, she's completely nuts."

Farah looked startled at the burned area on Ben's uniform.  
"I told you to lie down." Rosalind declared furiously and fired another bolt in Ben's direction, which collapsed in the door frame.

At that very moment Saul was walking towards Rosalind with his fists clenched. She laughed coldly while she touched Saul's head and the latter slumped unconscious after a white glow in her eyes.

"You won't remember a lot." Then she looked emotionless at Farah who looked incredulously at the men in the room and pulled Bloom closer to her. "He didn't really think he had a chance, did he?"  
Then she turned to Farah.  
"Farah, dear, do me a favor and just give her to me. You also want nothing to happen to her."

The older Farah looked in disbelief from her memory Rosalind to the Rosalind she knew.  
"What did you have done?"  
Rosalind looked at Farah, bored, and sighed. "Just take a look. The faster we can go on."

The memory Rosalind ran her hand over Farah's cheek. Briefly the eyes glowed white and Farah passed out.  
Before she could drop Bloom, Rosalind caught the baby.  
"Farah, Farah, we don't want to drop little Bloom."

Farah looked at Rosalind in disbelief.  
"How could you be so cold?"

Rosalind smiled slightly.  
"You were a tough nut to crack. After I came back and hid Bloom on earth and worked through all the memories, you actually still remembered everything. You attacked me like a furious monster. Obviously, mother's love is pretty strong. Stronger than I suspected. It took me a whole night to create the seal. After that you even killed the only witnesses to the whole thing for me. "

"What?" Farah stuttered softly and looked at Rosalind.

"Asterdell." She answered shortly while they were back in the temple ruins.

"Is that why you killed people? You lied, they weren't blood witches?"

Rosalind smiled wickedly.  
"Those and blood witches? Don't make me laugh. To be a blood witch you have to be mighty, sublime and strong! And I have to remind you that you destroyed the village with me."

Farah looked at Rosalind with tears.  
"Now it is time to fulfill your end of the bargain."


End file.
